It’s hard to believe that the biggest recession in U.S. history officially ended almost two years ago. For many regions the road to recovery has been rocky at best. Washington State is no exception. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, our state’s unemployment has hovered around nine percent for the past six months. Still, while many markets like financial services and construction have been hit particularly hard by the recession, the life sciences industry not only weathered the storm quite well, it has grown.

In fact, the life science industry in the Pacific Northwest is a hotbed for innovation and has been an important part of our overall economic recovery. Between 2007 and 2009, the number of life sciences jobs grew nearly 5 percent to 26,300, while jobs in Washington’s other private sectors decreased by 4 percent.

We attribute much of this success to the scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit that has become a hallmark of our state. Washington ranked second in the country in the “2010 State New Economy Index,” published by the Kauffman Foundation. The high scores were reflective of our strength in software and aviation but also an acknowledgement of the innovative environment that has developed here in many sectors, including life sciences.

And despite the reality of today’s economy that has made private investment in research and development even harder to come by, Seattle is among some of the country’s leading life science hubs, including the Bay Area, Boston and San Diego, that are bringing in VC funding. Last year while other sectors struggled, life science companies across the nation raised record levels of capital, according to the Burrill & Company report on Venture Capital Funding. Investment also came in the form of acquisitions. Five of the area’s life sciences companies were acquired last year, most notably, ZymoGenetics, acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $885 million. Encouragingly, in January, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced it would keep ZymoGenetics open in Seattle, retaining more than 200 jobs.

Across Washington State, 72 cities host life science and research companies, which create more than 25,000 jobs directly linked to life sciences and 55,000 indirect jobs. A typical life science job pays twice the average salary in Washington State. In addition to job growth in the life sciences, there are many hopeful signs that our life science industry is flourishing.

• Just this month, Seattle Genetics raised $178 million in a stock offering.

• In 2010, three of the FDA’s twenty-one approved drugs were discovered and developed by Seattle biotechnology companies, including Amgen’s Xgeva through Amgen’s acquisition of Immunex, Gilead’s Cayston through their acquisition of Corus, and of course Dendreon’s Provenge.

• The National Cancer Institute awarded $11.5 million to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to lead a breast cancer research consortium.

• And last September, the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA) signed an historic agreement with the Beijing Pharmaceutical Profession Association to encourage investment, partnering and research collaboration between Washington State and China.

On March 2, the WBBA and Burrill & Company will co-host Life Science Innovation Northwest 2011 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. The event brings together members of the life sciences community from 15 states and eight countries including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Japan and the United Kingdom to address some of the critical issues facing the industry. The goal is to stimulate ideas and excitement about the Northwest’s innovative life sciences corridor. We’ll tackle the issue of early stage funding, providing ideas for fueling innovation through public, angel and VC sources. We’ll also discuss ways to encourage global investment in the region.

We have an exciting and challenging opportunity before us. We are fast becoming one of the world’s leading innovation hubs for life sciences. We are uniquely positioned for this role because of our world renowned expertise in research (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Washington Center for Commercialization, and Oregon Health & Science University), global health (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Biomed, Institute for Systems Biology, and PATH) and agriculture (Washington State University) as well as our proximity to growing markets like Asia. We have a vibrant community of private sector companies and are working with our state and local governments to encourage a climate that enables entrepreneurial people and companies to convert innovative ideas into marketable new products, services and jobs.

[Editor's Note: This post was authored with input from Steve Burrill of Burrill & Co.]

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Last week, a group of executives and leaders from state life sciences trade associations across the country, including myself, gathered here in Seattle to discuss the policy landscape at both the federal and state levels. Part of our agenda for the meeting, which took place at Amgen’s Helix campus along Elliott Bay, was to discuss the implications of a new study conducted by Battelle and commissioned by the Council on American Medical Innovation (CAMI) outlining the policy changes necessary to maintain a thriving life sciences and biotech industry in the United States.

And as a state with a thriving life sciences industry, the study also had very specific implications for Washington.

The study, for which I was interviewed, identifies four key challenges that we must address in order to maintain our leadership: 1) lack of consistency and predictability in the review and approval of new medical products and uncertainties in reimbursement; 2) shortfalls in private investment for company formation, R&D and related manufacturing job growth; 3) gaps between research and translation of medical innovation into new treatments; and 4) limitations in the U.S. bioscience talent pool.

The most important conclusion from the study and our resulting meetings in Seattle is that we cannot take for granted the strength and growth we have witnessed in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors so far. Our leadership in these industries as a state and as a country is ours to lose. We are beginning to experience some regulatory and financial limitations that are not good signs for sectors that have been among the few bright shining areas in an otherwise dim economic picture.

A warning shot went up this week: If we don’t take steps now to relieve policy pressure on life sciences, we face the serious risk of losing our global leadership in these areas.

Many within Washington state have a stake in this leadership, and as evidenced by the nearly 60 interested community members who joined us for the event: Lee Huntsman from Life Sciences Discovery Fund, John Gardner from Washington State University, Bob Drewel from the Puget Sound Regional Council and Carolyn Busch from state Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown’s staff, to name a few.

U.S. Rep Jay Inslee, whose House district covers parts of Kitsap, Snohomish, and northern King County, continues to be a champion for innovation and the need to support the life sciences and therapeutic development, as well as education. Congressman Inslee—named Legislator of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)—added … Next Page »

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Washington’s fast-growing life sciences community enjoys a strong and collaborative environment that has propelled it to No. 5 among the state’s largest employers according to recent data from the Washington State Department of Employment Security.

That was the conclusion of the ZINO Life Sciences Investment Forum panel discussion that I participated in earlier this week. Panel members—including David Schubert, president of Accelerator; Martin Simonetti, CEO of VLST; Michelle Burris, chief operating officer of Trubion Pharmaceuticals; and facilitated by Alan Smith, a partner at Fenwick & West—debated the state of the life sciences sector and discussed the opportunities and challenges facing the industry.

The half-day event also featured presentations by 15 impressive early stage companies to accredited investors, ZINO Society members and guests. The presenting companies were vying for a $50,000 investment to support their development. The presentations were broken down into three categories: Seed Stage, Launch Stage and Expansion Stage. Three companies were selected as fund finalists. Panelists then had the opportunity to grill company executives to shed more light on their ideas, plans and operations during a segment called “Due Diligence Live!”.

Their presentations, coupled with positive yet realistic comments from panelists, helped solidify my belief that our state’s life science sector is in a good position to fulfill its promise of becoming a global leader on many technological, clinical and health care fronts, as well as a major driver of Washington’s economy. The three finalists were Kevin Connolly of SRS Medical, Carole Spangler of Seattle Sensor Systems and Paul Slowey (aka “Dr. Spit”) of Oasis Diagnostics.

With statewide employment of 22,349, the life sciences are closing in on computer and electronic product manufacturing for the No. 4 position among the state’s largest employers. Transportation equipment manufacturing, agriculture, and food and beverage manufacturing hold the first three spots.

Washington in unique in its willingness to collaborate at the highest level, which contributes to this job growth. Many of the presenting companies are also companies that have come through the WBBA’s commercialization program, or have been an applicant or presenter at WINGS, Washington’s newly formed medical technology angel network, facilitated by the WBBA.

It is exciting to see so many quality early stage companies, see all of the excitement evolving in many of our world’s leading research institutes and how our global health community continues to lead by example and how our industry leaders are partnering with many of these organizations to face some of the most challenging health care issues facing us and citizens around the world. I believe that life sciences in our state is in a very good position to fulfill many promises. Those include becoming a global leader on many technological, clinical and health care fronts. By doing those things, life sciences will become an increasingly important economic driver in our state.

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As the life sciences sector continues to navigate the changing seas of innovation in the new economy, we’ve trained our gaze toward a few beacons. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest have become a light shining on the horizon.

In March, the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association and Burrill & Company will together present Life Science Innovation Northwest, a conference that will bring together scientists, entrepreneurs, investors and partners, who, working together, have the ability to discover and promulgate technologies to improve the lives of people around the world.

We originally wanted to convene a meeting in Seattle because of the potential for tremendous growth in the biotech and life sciences industries in the region. But the Pacific Northwest offers so much more; renowned for being a leading and innovative region. Companies like Boeing, Costco, Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks are just a few who call the Northwest home. Over the past several years, the Northwest has emerged as a leader in several emerging 21st century industries, becoming one of the nation’s environmental leaders, spurring startups and expansion in green technologies, as well as in the informatics, health care IT and personalized medicine. In addition, Seattle has become the nexus for global health. This fast growing sector is tackling some of the most challenging diseases known to man, many of which affect the citizens in the Northwest and around the world.

Working together, these innovation industries become natural partners spurring discovery and economic growth within their own sectors. All of this presents tremendous value in the region that cannot be overlooked. Value in life sciences is not a derivative of immediate sales and earnings. Value is derived from the hopes and passions of what a product, drug or device is going to do for patients. The business climate in which a startup or even an established company operates boosts confidence that in turn boosts value, which creates jobs, promise and hope. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest’s private sector, philanthropic foundations and elected leadership need to be solidly on board the life sciences train in order to create a temperate climate for entrepreneurship and investment. The atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest today is similar to one California took advantage of more than a decade ago, which helped to create two of the largest biotech clusters in the world in San Francisco and San Diego. This vision bodes well for the Pacific Northwest’s future.

Steve Burrill

This year’s conference is expected to attract significantly more than the 700 attendees from around the world that attended the 2009 conference. It is an opportunity not only to attract interest in the economic potential for the region, but also stands to recognize the good work and brilliant discoveries being made by WBBA member organizations every day.

All of these ingredients create the perfect medium for economic growth. We expect this conference will attract much interest on a national and international scale. Among the lineup are more than 50 innovative organizations, premier research institutions, and pioneers in immunology, oncology and other chronic diseases. They will present latest biotech innovations, medical device and diagnostic technologies, global health initiatives, and bio-fuel and bio-agriculture breakthroughs.

The conference will also add the value of business strategy and investment panels discussing initial public offerings, public-private partnerships and the future of venture capital, and how our current economic situation has affected our industry, and where the opportunities lie in the future.

This region’s strong biotech, medical device, research and global health environment is becoming the next big economic driver. The stage has been set, and it will take not only the city’s leaders, but its residents and business community to support this sector growth. Life Science Innovation Northwest will be the place for scientists, business and community leaders, industry and the global health community, as well as forward-thinking investors and strategic partners to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity and help shape our global health care future. Smart, early innovators have sights set on the Pacific Northwest. Soon, everyone will follow.

[Editor's Note: This post was co-authored by Chris Rivera, president of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association and G. Steven Burrill, CEO, Burrill & Company.]

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Next week, the U.S. Senate is expected to take up debate on health care reform. Regardless of what happens in Washington DC, the impact will be felt on virtually every business and individual in Washington State.

Without question, a simple solution to our health care crisis is elusive, and in the coming days and weeks many complicated and important issues will be debated, but from where I stand today, there is one key health care issue with no room for debate.

The issue is the development of a pathway for regulatory approval of biosimilars by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Biosimilars, as the name implies, are drugs that are similar to, but not the same as, innovator biologics. Biologics are molecular structures that can be hundreds of times more complex. That’s why copycat versions of biologics aren’t called “generics.” Biotechnology-based therapies that fight diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s are made from living cells—a process far more complex than the one used to manufacture chemical-based drugs such as aspirin.

The illustration below helps to put into perspective the differences between small molecule drugs and biologics:

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To give a sense of size, same-scale computer models of three drugs—aspirin (a small molecule), somatropin (human growth hormone), and Herceptin (an antibody)—are presented as an example of the relative complexity: The molecules are to scale and the objects are not, but the objects (bike, car, private jet) indicate relative size and complexity of these molecules. Used with Permission. Source: Genentech
http://www.gene.com/gene/about/views/followon-biologics.html

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Here in Washington State, we are fortunate to have great leadership on this issue from Representative Jay Inslee (D, WA-1). Rep. Inslee is one of the lead sponsors of the Pathway for Biosimilars Act (H.R. 1548), bipartisan legislation that protects patient safety and strikes the appropriate balance between increasing competition and maintaining our nation’s status as the world’s leader in science and innovation.

Rep. Inslee wants to make sure that biosimilar manufacturers are required to provide the FDA with clinical data on the safety and efficacy of their medicines. And his legislation preserves incentives for … Next Page »

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