Indiana produced $9.8 billion in exports for 2013, which places the state behind only California in the amount of life science ?exports it produces.
The report was compiled by the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business in collaboration with the ?BioCrossroads Coalition.
“The life science sector has doubled its economic impact — $32 billion to $59 billion — in just 11 years.” President and CEO of BioCrossroads David L. Johnson said in a press release.
BioCrossroads is a group of academics, industry stakeholders and philanthropic and public leaders who work to increase the growth of the life science sector in Indiana, according to the company’s website.
The life sciences ?sector production includes pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical devices and ?biological research.
The Bloomington Life Science partnership, a project of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, works with companies to advance the sector in the Bloomington economy.
The partnership is a catalyst for life sciences business growth in the greater Bloomington area, ?according to its website.
The sector has a large presence in Bloomington, which includes Baxter International’s manufacturing plant and the headquarters and manufacturing facilities for Cook Medical ?Company.
Marsha Lovejoy, communications director for Cook Medical, said the company has deep ?Bloomington roots.
“We were founded here in 1963,” Lovejoy said. “Bill Cook worked with a doctor to do the first angioplasty ever in 1964 with a Cook catheter.”
More than half a million angioplasties, a surgery to treat heart disease, are performed every year, according to the American Heart Association.
“That moment changed medicine,” Lovejoy said. “And it started in ?Bloomington.”
Cook employs around 4,300 workers in the greater Monroe County area and is the second-largest employer behind IU, Lovejoy said.
“This really huge global company is centered in Bloomington,” Lovejoy said.
Baxter employs ?approximately 1,135 employees at its facilities in Indiana,” Baxter Communications Director Deborah Spak said in a statement to the IDS.
These facilities include manufacturing plants for medical devices and ?pharmaceuticals, which employ 825 Bloomington workers, according to the statement.
Boston Scientific, a $20 billion company, also has a presence in Bloomington.
The sector provides not only jobs, but better ?paying jobs.
Average wages for life science workers were $90,000 as compared to the average of $50,000 during the entire private sector, according to the statement from BioCrossroads.
“We’ve been involved with IU for a long time,” Lovejoy said. “It’s pretty close to everyone’s hearts here.”
