Governor visits Carlsbad to tout biotech industry

biotech as job creation...one of my favorite issues...go arnold...

As the state economy sputters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Carlsbad yesterday to shine the spotlight on biotechnology, an industry that is growing.

“We are here today to talk about job creation,” Schwarzenegger said after touring a stem cell lab and manufacturing facilities at Invitrogen, a publicly traded biotechnology company that makes tools for drug-discovery research.
While the state's unemployment rate has climbed to 6.1 percent, biotechnology has continued to sprout and grow, he said. Invitrogen, for example, has grown 5.5 percent in the past year and is expanding its manufacturing capacity by 50,000 square feet and hiring an additional 200 workers, Schwarzenegger said.
In California, 240,000 people are employed in 5,500 life-science companies, which include those that make therapies, medical devices, diagnostics and tools. The industry attracted $3.2 billion in venture-capital investment last year, which was half the nationwide total, the governor pointed out.
And California's $3 billion investment in stem cell research, known as Proposition 71, is helping research institutes attract the best and brightest talent from around the world and fuel potentially lifesaving research, he said.
Schwarzenegger said he wanted to use his appearance at Invitrogen for a round-table discussion with the region's business leaders. Specifically, he wanted to know what state government could do to further support the health and growth of an industry that provides high-skilled and high-wage jobs and is expected to continue growing for many years.
In the San Diego area, the biotech industry returned $8.5 billion to the economy, state Labor Secretary Victoria Bradshaw said.

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East and West...

This site has recently added Google Analytics which provides reporting features on the people who visit the blog...which has lead to some interesting discoveries

Locally speaking, (by this I mean North America)the largest single source of hits is the western coast of the US, more specifically, the state of California...this is followed closely by what I consider honme base...the Delaware Valley, comprised of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, with activity in New York and Maryland...

Globally speaking, (by this I mean the world) the second largest geographical area for readership is India...the largest number of readers comes from the US...

While I don't think this is tied to geopgrapghy, it is reflective of the long-standing areas of activity...San Francisco, and maybe some of the new growth areas for the industry, i.e. India and China...

The data-gathering has not be going on for long enough to determine if this is a long-term trend or just a tarnsianet result of some recent posting regarding the India Chapter of the ISPE...

I'll have to keep looking at it...

More new links

I am impressed with the number of new blogs popping up...

check out these...

Pharm Aid

On Pharma

Pharmalot

$110m to set up Kiryat Shmona “Biotech Valley”

Biotech is truly part of the global economy...

The planners believe that an industrial park will be set up with an initial 20 start-ups.
Gali Weinreb 26 Feb 07 16:51

The Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor together with the United Joint Israel Appeal (UJIA), the United Israel Appeals Federations Canada , Sacta Rashi Foundation, the Jewish Colonization Association, and the Jewish Agency are due to invest $110 million in establishing “Biotech Valley” near Tel Hai College. “Globes” broke the storey about the joint venture between the college, Meytav Technological Enterprises Innovation Center Ltd. in Kiryat Shmona, and the MIGAL - Galilee Technology Center, which is intended to attract top-quality biomedical researchers to live and work in the Upper Galilee.

link to full article

BioHealth Investor- Blog of the Week...

I don't usually focus too much on the financial side of the industry...and I think the biggest reason is there are other people out there doing a good job, way better than I could do...

BioHealth Investor- biotech stocks, news, and commentary

PPB Blog of the Week

check it out...