California Medical Breakthroughs Bring In Hundreds of Millions While the Very Same Industry Suffers Substantial Job Loss

A medical breakthrough can begin in a California laboratory. Whether the manufacturing plant, skilled jobs, and next round of investment stay nearby is another question.

California’s leaders should have to answer it.

For Americans who want this country to build more of what it invents, life sciences should be a priority.

Developing treatments is an extraordinary achievement. Turning those discoveries into lasting productive capacity is how that achievement strengthens the country.

California has a considerable head start. According to Biocom’s 2026 economic impact report, the state’s life sciences industry generated $394 billion in economic output in 2025, directly employed more than 406,000 workers, and attracted $73.1 billion in private investment.

Those numbers describe a sector with impacts far beyond Silicon Valley or the state’s borders.

But investment alone does not guarantee expanding opportunity. A separate 2026 report from California Life Sciences found that employment in the sector had declined 1.8 percent.

That should temper the celebrations. A state can remain a magnet for capital while workers face a less promising picture. Policymakers should care about both.

California’s advantages are substantial: research universities, experienced entrepreneurs, scientific talent, and investors willing to finance difficult work. The challenge is to make building and expanding a business in the state as compelling as starting one there.

Palo Alto-based BridgeBio illustrates why that matters.

Its Attruby treats adults with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, also known as ATTR-CM, a serious disease in which abnormal protein deposits damage the heart.

Attruby’s approval in 2024 gave patients another treatment option for a condition that can lead to heart failure, and has quickly become a blockbuster drug, generating over $400 million in revenue for the company in the first half of 2026 alone.

BridgeBio’s progress is a case in point for the economic question California must answer: How can the state turn scientific and commercial success into more opportunities for its workers?

Companies developing new treatments need an environment that supports their next stage of growth, including access to skilled employees and a predictable path to expanding their operations.

For policymakers, the goal should be making California a place where companies have compelling reasons to deepen their investment. The state’s role in developing a treatment should be the beginning of a longer economic story.

Other companies demonstrate the breadth of that opportunity.

Pleasanton-based 10x Genomics supplies tools that help make future discoveries possible. Its Atera platform allows researchers to examine gene activity across tissue at large scale, helping them investigate the biology underlying disease.

On Sept. 3, Carlsbad-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced FDA approval of Zanvastro, the first disease-modifying treatment for Alexander disease. This rare, progressive, and often fatal neurological disorder can deprive children and adults of the ability to move independently or swallow.

In August, Redwood City-based Revolution Medicines announced FDA approval of Rasonque for certain adults with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The company reported that in a Phase 3 trial involving previously treated patients, the medicine reduced the risk of death by 60 percent compared with chemotherapy.

For families confronting these diseases, progress is measured in treatment options and time together. That human purpose should remain at the center of the debate.

Delivering those treatments requires skilled people, specialized facilities, and dependable production. California should be working to capture more of that opportunity, and Washington should recognize its importance to American industrial strength.

Local governments should establish clear permitting requirements and firm timelines for research and manufacturing facilities. Companies need to know what approval requires and when a decision will come. Predictability and rigorous safety standards can coexist.

Colleges and employers should develop training together, with courses tied to actual hiring needs. Paid apprenticeships and technical programs could help more Californians qualify for laboratory, production, and equipment maintenance work.

The economic promise of medical innovation should reach people pursuing practical credentials alongside those pursuing advanced degrees.

Taxpayers also deserve accountability. Any public incentive should include measurable investment and hiring commitments, public reporting, and consequences when recipients fail to deliver.

And federal policymakers have responsibilities, too.

Research funding should be predictable, awarded on scientific merit, and subject to meaningful oversight. Private investors take risks to develop commercial products. Public research can help establish the scientific foundations on which those products depend. Both deserve policies that reward useful work and responsible stewardship.

California cannot assume its reputation will secure its future. Entrepreneurs and investors have choices. State leaders should give them concrete reasons to build, manufacture, and hire in the Golden State.

BridgeBio’s success and the advances emerging across California demonstrate what American medical innovation can deliver. The next challenge is to create the conditions for that progress to support a stronger domestic workforce and manufacturing base.

America should remain capable of discovering new medicines and producing them. California has helped show what American science can accomplish. Its next test is whether more American workers can build a future around that success.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either d or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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