Politics part of the formula for biotech boom

Hardly a word was said at a recent state biotech industry gathering about the drugs emerging from the labs.

Instead of talking up the gee-whiz part of its work, the industry has started talking about things it knows grab taxpayers' attention: jobs and economic growth.

At the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association's annual meeting Friday, President Ruth Scott pointed to a study showing the state has 19,000 people on biotech and medical-device company payrolls earning an average of $68,000 in 2002.

The numbers, which include workers at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, have caught attention in Seattle and Olympia political circles. Momentum has been building for billionaire Paul Allen's plans to redevelop South Lake Union into a biotech hub with an estimated price to taxpayers of more than $500 million.

Today, a panel of experts from venture-capital firms, the University of Washington, biotech companies and nonprofit research centers will discuss how to amplify the region's biotech industry and what the public may be asked to contribute.

The first item on the biotech wish list is long-term extension of a tax break for research-oriented companies. Fred Morris, Gov. Gary Locke's adviser on science and technology, said his boss supports the idea.

"This is a very young industry, and it is having a direct impact on our economy in the number of jobs and the quality of jobs it is generating," Morris said. "And these are not just any jobs. These are well-paying, satisfying, intellectually challenging jobs."

The biotech and medical-device industry, born about 20 years ago, has 190 companies in the state — mostly small startups, many younger than 5 years old — according to an economic study the industry commissioned. In addition to the 19,000 it employs, it supports 43,000 jobs in law firms, accounting firms, construction and other fields.

The region has what biotech companies need most — research centers like the UW and "The Hutch" that it can partner with and harvest ideas from.

What the study left out is that of Washington's 190 companies, only about a dozen are national or international players. The region's only breakout success in for-profit biotech, Immunex, was taken over last year by Amgen, which cut about 500 high-paying local jobs. The industry has suffered deep layoffs, only recently beginning to emerge from a long, painful fund-raising drought.

Most biotech companies essentially work like a research farm system for big drug companies. They don't aspire to have Boeing-like payrolls in manufacturing or sales and marketing.

Bob Chase, the economist who wrote the report, has studied financial services, software, aerospace, wood products and other Northwest industries. He said he was surprised by how much biotech has grown in the past decade and by how the UW and The Hutch have one-upped peers in bringing in research money.

"It's one of the highest-paying industries in the state, and over the past few years, it's been one of the fastest-growing," Chase said. "It's one of the few bright spots in the Washington economy."

Luke Timmerman: 206-515-5644