One medical company is expanding and creating more New Jersey jobs.

Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., based in Nutley, N.J., is the U.S. pharmaceuticals headquarters of the Roche Group, one of the world’s leading research-oriented healthcare groups with core businesses in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. The company is currently expanding its New Jersey facility, according to an article from the State of New Jersey.

For more than 100 years, Roche has been committed to developing innovative products and services that address prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases to enhance people's health and quality of life.

"New Jersey and Roche have a fruitful 80-year partnership that will continue to flourish," Governor Jon. S. Corzine said in the article. "We should be proud that this global pharmaceutical leader has reaffirmed its commitment by strengthening its R&D operations here in Nutley, which ultimately will provide good, high-paying jobs for our citizens."

The company invests more than $7 billion per year worldwide in pharmaceutical research and development, and recently relocated its commercial operations to California as a strategic business decision.

New Jersey employed 61,000 people in its medical and life-sciences companies during 2007, and the state saw a 6.4 percent increase in drug and pharmaceutical employment in 2006. New Jersey also ranks sixth in the number of people employed in testing labs with 35,900 jobs added in 2006.

"Reports of the state’s pharma industry withering on the vine couldn’t be further from the truth," Corzine added in the article. "New Jersey remains the ‘Medicine Chest of the World’ with 15 of the world’s top 25 pharmaceutical companies either having their U.S. or world headquarters, or major operations, in New Jersey and that includes Roche."

The HealthCare Institute of New Jersey recently released a study indicating the impact of the pharmaceutical industry on New Jersey's economy increased to $27 billion in 2007, up from $26 billion in 2006. The state also is home to 238 biotechnology companies, up from 226 in 2006.

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