Don't Risk Illinois Jobs and $2.75B+ in Investments

May 6
2 min read

Illinois is home to a robust biopharmaceutical industry that delivers life-saving cures to patients across the country. In the last 16 months, $2.75 billion in biopharmaceutical investment has flowed into Illinois – fueling continued leadership in research, development, and manufacturing.

In Illinois:

$575 million investment by AbbVie in North Chicago
Over 263k local jobs supported by the industry
$101.1 billion in economic output
Faster delivery of more innovative cures to patients nationwide

Illinois’s contribution to the life sciences helps maintain America's status as a global leader in innovation.

Since January 2025, new investment in the life sciences amounted to over $582 billion across the states. Investments like these ensure groundbreaking discoveries and support an industry that provides more than 4.9 million U.S. jobs and $71.6 billion in vendor spending. America's biopharmaceutical industry is essential to safeguarding public health and sustaining a strong, competitive economy.

This growth does not make the life sciences industry in the U.S. immune to impending threats – such Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing and the rise in competition from China.

Government price controls, like MFN, discourage investment – threatening the progress the sector has enjoyed and putting patient access to essential cures in jeopardy. With less investment, the cures, jobs, and economic capital that the sector produces are all on the line. Additionally, China is not missing an opportunity to strengthen its innovation ecosystem, introducing a greater threat to U.S. global leadership and posing a risk to national security.

If lawmakers don't take action, price controls will:

Surrender America's competitive edge to China
Halt progress in the life sciences sector
Limit access to life-saving medications for patients
Cost millions of Americans their jobs

Protecting every state's life sciences sector is critical. Illinois lawmakers must reject price controls.

For more information on Illinois’s investments, visit We Work For Health.