APRIL 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 19
The pharmaceutical industry has slowly grown into a major force on Long Island. (Getty Images)
LI’S SILENT PHARMA BOOM
BY JAMES BERNSTEIN
Since the end of the Cold War in 1991 and the resulting demise of Long Island’s once
mighty aerospace and defense industry, local leaders have been searching for a new
economic engine to fuel the region.
The software industry was once seen as a possibility, but the largest of the companies,
now called CA Technologies, sputtered in scandal and moved its headquarters from
Islandia to Manhattan. Biotech was also once a possibility. But a bio-tech park in
Farmingdale failed to get off the ground, and new companies did not materialize.
But while the leaders were searching about, one industry that had been overlooked
was growing: pharmaceuticals. That includes companies that manufacture over-thecounter
and prescription drugs, others that package them, and still others in the
process of marketing and selling everything from cold and sore-throat pills to weightreduction
formulas.
WHAT’S INSIDE continued on page 20
22 24 MOVERS &
25 26 NONPROFIT
27SPOTLIGHT
CHARITY
CORNER OFFICE SHAKERS
WHOLLY MOLI EVENTS
PRESS BUSINESS
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES HAVE QUIETLY EXPANDED THEIR LOCAL PRESENCE IN RECENT YEARS
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