Overall, however, New Jersey has lost more than 20 % of its drug industry jobs in the last decade, according to census figures. The company has been slimming down space on a global basis - it has facilities in 70 countries – since the 2009 merger with Schering-Plough. That same year,
Nutley-based Roche began moving executives to its Genentech subsidiary in San Francisco; in June Roche announced it will close its 90-year-old plant on the Nutley/Clifton border. Also in 2009, Pfizer acquired Wyeth – and shut down its Princeton research center.

The “nation’s medicine chest,” as New Jersey was known, began changing shape and moving westward, as research development shifted from chemistry to bio-pharma, industry experts have observed.

Now, brokers are beating the bushes for large companies who can make use of some of the high-tech space that was left behind in the Garden State – be they pharmaceutical firms, high-tech, medical institutions, or whatever presents itself.

Earlier this month, M & M Partners of Clifton bought a former Wyeth property in Morris Plains with a plan to convert it to retail and housing. In Readington and Nutley, community officials say they have commitments from the departing drug makers to help them market the property for new uses. Roche has said it intends to clean up its property before selling it in 2015.