Colorado Bioscience companies are improving patient outcomes, strengthening the health care system and our state’s economy. My company, Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, has developed innovative pediatric treatments designed specifically to fill the unmet needs of children. We are one of the few companies that creates medicines to treat high blood pressure in children.

Bioscience is not only transforming the lives of patients, but its improving our economy as well. In Colorado alone, 725 bioscience companies employ more than 30,000 people, whose average annual wage is over $90,000. Bioscience products are also Colorado’s leading export, accounting for 17 percent of all exports in 2013 totaling $2.2 billion.

Colorado’s economy is on the rise and new treatments are being discovered each day. I see firsthand how these treatments are providing enormous value to individual patients and society as a whole. Colorado should continue to encourage the development of innovative new treatments that can provide hope to a sick patient, and high paying jobs for our state.