{"id":140,"date":"2015-03-11T14:35:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T21:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-summit-marks-rebirth-of-biotech-era-in-los-angeles\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:26:14","slug":"usc-summit-marks-rebirth-of-biotech-era-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-summit-marks-rebirth-of-biotech-era-in-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"USC summit marks rebirth of biotech era in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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USC summit marks rebirth of biotech era in Los Angeles<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Alicia di Rado and Eddie North-Hager<\/span>\n \n March 11, 2015<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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Los Angeles city and county policymakers and educational institutions laid the groundwork for the region\u2019s biotechnology strategy at a summit on the USC Health Sciences Campus.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Biotech Summit drew leaders from business, academia and government to discuss ways to build the industry and, in turn, create more jobs.<\/p>\n

Participants included Andy McMahon<\/a>, provost professor and chair of the executive committee of USC Stem Cell; Los Angeles County supervisors Hilda Solis<\/a> and Mark Ridley-Thomas<\/a>; Nelson Rising<\/a> of Rising Realty Partners; Bill Allen<\/a> of the Los Angeles Economic Development Council; Steve Kay<\/a>, biochemist and dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; David Meyer of the Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; Marvin Martinez<\/a>, president of East Los Angeles College; and Elmy Bermejo<\/a>, regional representative for U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez.<\/p>\n

Panel topics at the summit include job creation through university-spawned companies and economic and workforce development.<\/p>\n

Biotech movement building in Los Angeles<\/h3>\n

\u201cAs the Great Recession decimated U.S. job growth, one sector continued to thrive: biotechnology,\u201d said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. \u201cEncompassing everything from medical device manufacturing to biopharmaceutical development and diagnostic tools, this industry will no doubt from humanity\u2019s most important advances in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikias has called for an ecosystem in Los Angeles that fosters business, venture capital investment and access to academic medical centers for research and clinical trials. The summit underscored building momentum behind this push in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

Today, about 38,000 people work in biotech jobs producing everything from medical equipment to pharmaceuticals in Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Mayor\u2019s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. But a concerted effort to launch and foster start-up companies growing from the region\u2019s research institutions could significantly increase that number.<\/p>\n

USC and other research universities in the area brought in nearly $2 billion in research dollars in 2010\u2014the second-highest research expenditure total for any U.S. metro region\u2014according to a Los Angeles County report on biotech. But often the discoveries made through this research are turned into new drugs or devices by companies located far away from Los Angeles. In the last 15 years, nearly 50 USC biotech-related start-up companies have headquartered themselves outside Los Angeles because of the city\u2019s lack of infrastructure, Nikias said.<\/p>\n

Fixing the brain drain and financial leak in local biotech<\/h3>\n

Cities like Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Phoenix are smaller than Los Angeles, but they\u2019ve cultivated successful biotech corridors that attract business and create jobs. In cities with a vibrant biotech business, biotech jobs account for as much as 3 percent of the workforce. In Los Angeles, about 1 percent of jobs are in biotech, according to the county report.<\/p>\n

To counter the drain of potential biotech jobs and innovation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in November to develop a biotechnology framework for the region. As part of that effort, leaders propose building several biotech corridors across Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

Noted Thomas S. Sayles, USC\u2019s senior vice president for university relations: \u201cBiotech corridors would leverage our existing academic medical centers, companies and colleges and training centers to spur economic development and job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of these corridors would sweep through east Los Angeles and use the Health Sciences Campus as an anchor\u2014building on the intellectual, medical and community assets of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, LAC+USC Medical Center and local pharmaceutical firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get it right, the economic potential is enormous,\u201d Nikias said. \u201cThe initial Biotechnology Park is expected to create 3,000 construction jobs and nearly 4,000 permanent positions, from entry-level technicians to high-wage doctorate-level scientists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikias recently met with Supervisor Hilda Solis in advance of the summit to discuss their visions for the eastside corridor, and talks continue on building a broad-based coalition of educators, government and investors to push the project. He estimates that the entire corridor would be similar in size and scope to San Francisco\u2019s Mission Bay project, which will employ 30,000 people once completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the ingredients for Los Angeles to capture growth in this booming field are already here,\u201d Nikias said. \u201cWith the right alignment between government, academia and industry, we can harness the region\u2019s existing strengths\u2014including our science graduates\u2014to create lasting economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[436],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-usc-stem-cell"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSC summit marks rebirth of biotech era in Los 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