NJ’s Life Sciences Industry in a Fight Against Bad Policies

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Mar 13, 2026

The future of New Jersey’s life sciences industry depends on partnerships between industry, higher education and policymakers as competition from foreign countries, particularly China, and funding cuts and harmful policies from Washington, D.C., will have negative repercussions on an industry that has a $120 billion impact to the state; representing between 15% and 20% of New Jersey GDP and supporting more than 350,000 jobs.

“New Jersey is the Medicine Chest of the World, and we need to discuss how to sustain this vital designation. It is a matter that is becoming more important in a rapidly changing industry,” said Chrissy Buteas, president and CEO of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), this morning at the organization’s “Pulse 2026: Saving Lives Globally, Driving Our Economy Locally” event held at Middlesex College in Edison.

Saying that government policies matter, Buteas commented that having Gov. Mikie Sherrill, the keynote speaker at the event, champion the industry is critical to its success.

“The life sciences are central to the DNA of the state … it touches just about everything and is at the heart of the innovation economy that we want to continue to build here,” said the governor.

In the FY 2027 budget address that was introduced this past Tuesday, Sherrill said she will be cracking down on pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) as one way of lowering drug prices. She reiterated her charge this morning, saying that PBMs are middlemen jacking up the prices of drugs by as much as 10 times and that they are “lining their own pockets” with drug rebates that should go to customers. The governor said her administration is already working with people in the industry to draft legislation to correct the issue.

Sherrill also said her budget will try to protect New Jerseyans from the Trump administration’s massive cuts to the Affordable Care Act. “Nearly half a million of us will see premiums triple this year. The healthcare system in this country is collapsing, and many of you are on the front lines of what’s going on. I will need your input to fix this crisis,” she told the audience.

New Jersey Business & Industry Association President and CEO Michele Siekerka moderated a panel discussion on growing the state’s innovation economy. Among her questions, Siekerka asked if the industry was positioned to accelerate or lose competitive ground over the next five years.

While the panelists were confident about the current state of the life sciences industry, many saw troubles down the road.

Rutgers University President Dr. William F. Tate IV said New Jersey’s innovation economy is positioned to grow, but it is not guaranteed. While he touted the state’s innovation hubs, like the HELIX in New Brunswick and the various Strategic Innovation Centers, Tate said the state must “urgently close its early-stage venture capital gap and the entrepreneurial cultural deficit before Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and emerging southern US regions absorb the talent and deals.”

Dan Leonard, executive director of We Work for Health, an organization that brings national stakeholders together to support policies and initiatives that foster healthcare innovation, said there is no other state in the nation that has the assets and history to succeed like New Jersey, but the state (like many others) is playing “three dimensional chess.”

“You have global competition, primarily coming from China, which wants to be the life sciences leader of the world; bad federal and state policies; and competition from 49 other states that want what New Jersey has had for a long time,” Leonard said.

Focusing on federal policies, he said the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has government negotiating Medicare drug prices. “I use air quotes when I say ‘negotiating,’ because the government is essentially telling manufacturers, ‘This is the price you will charge … for this drug,’ but every time you bring down top line drug prices, everything follows: innovation goes away and jobs can walk away. So, you have this downward pricing pressure that creates a ripple effect,” Leonard explained.

He then pointed to Most Favored Nation drug pricing, which the government is implementing to lower US prescription drug costs by pegging them to the lowest prices paid by other developed nations. Again, this would impact innovation and cost jobs, with Leonard saying the initiative, which President Trump mentioned he wants to codify into law, could lead to 200 fewer new medicines coming to market over the next decade and cost 1.1 million jobs.

Overall, the morning event was a call to action for the more than 200 industry professionals who attended.

“This discussion comes at a critical moment as we navigate rapid technological change, new policies and the growing influence of artificial intelligence,” said HINJ’s Buteas. “New Jersey’s reputation as the Medicine Chest of the World exists because of people represented here today; the men and women who build the complex research and manufacturing facilities that drive modern science.”

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

Related Articles: