New York City seeks boost to life science industry with biotech tax breaks

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a tax-incentive bill Monday that aims to attract biotech companies and jobs to the city's growing life sciences industry.

Adams signed the bill to benefit life science companies, which manufacture pharmaceuticals and medical devices among other products, by targeting biotech startups with up to $3 million in tax incentives. 

The bill was sponsored by New York City council members Jennifer Gutiérrez and James F. Gennaro.

“Employing more than 20,000 New Yorkers and counting, biotech and life sciences are critical to the success of working people in New York City,” Adams said in a statement. “Our city continues to drive innovation, and with this legislation, we are expanding research, discovery, startups, and more to tap into our city’s talented workforce.”

Executives in Long Island's biotech industry as well as business leaders said the bill will help attract jobs and industry to the region while adding to the cooperative, yet competitive biotech markets on the Island and in New York City.

“In our industry, we do want to cooperate wherever possible,” said Tom Mariner, executive director of LI Bio, an organization representing the interests Long Island biotech.

“There’s a vibrant ecosystem here," Mariner said. "We’re always interested in creating our jobs and keeping folks here on Long Island and cooperating with New York City.”

Long Island has a $5 billion life sciences/biotech industry, Mariner said, attracting talent to laboratories including Cold Springs Harbor, Brookhaven and Stony Brook University.

Long Island hosted 53 research and development businesses in the biotech industry last year, according to the New York Department of Labor. Those companies employed 948 people, paying most of those workers an average annual salary of $110,000.

New York City’s life science’s industry, which included 150,000 jobs and 5,100 businesses, generating more than $23 billion in wages last year, according to the the mayor's office. Last month, Adams and Hochul anounced a new Science Park and Research Campus at Kips Bay as part of a life sciences career and education hub. 

The city’s Economic Development Corporation has launched a $1 billion initiative to help draw at least 1,000 companies and 40,000 jobs in the next 15 years.

Matt Cohen, president of the Long Island Association, said the organization supported the New York City bill and said it will spark innovation and create more jobs for the region.

“Long Island’s biotech industry is a national leader that employs thousands and continues to blossom," Cohen said. "We need to support additional public and private investments throughout the state in order to enhance our economic competitiveness and New York City’s initiative will drive further innovation and collaboration that will ultimately grow our interconnected economies."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.