This report shows that biopharmaceutical research companies continue to be vitally important to the economy and patient health in Georgia, despite the recession.

At a time when the state still faces significant economic challenges, these companies are conducting or have conducted more than 3,600 clinical trials of new medicines in collaboration with the state’s university medical schools, hospitals and clinical research centers. Of the more than 3,600 clinical trials, 1,800 target or have targeted the nation’s six most debilitating chronic diseases—asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental illnesses and stroke.

Institutions involved in clinical tests of treatments include the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta; such research centers as the Atlanta’s Women’s Research Institute and the Piedmont Hospital Research Institute in Atlanta; and hospitals like Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany and Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

Clinical tests involve three phases and thousands of volunteer patients and are often conducted at multiple sites around the country. In Georgia, biopharmaceutical companies have the luxury of having trials conducted at the states’ well-respected university medical schools, comprehensive cancer centers and clinical trial research centers.

According to U.S. News and World Report, Emory University School of Medical ranked 21st and the Medical College of Georgia ranked 71st among this year’s top 100 research-oriented medical schools in the United States.