As you approach Mann Biomedical Park in Santa Clarita one thing is clear this world-renowned company is not part of your typical business park or industrial area. Rolling hillsides rest besides the park’s innumerable buildings, while decade-old trees line shaded pathways throughout the complex. Alfred Mann purchased the property in 2002, relocating Mannkind Corporation to Santa Clarita to provide a distinctive setting for his companies. Mann was in good company. Home to the largest master-planned industrial park in Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita has attracted a number of industry clusters including biomedical, technology, aerospace, and film/entertainment. And in the last decade alone, other biomedical companies such as Advanced Bionics, Apex Medical, Specialty Laboratories, Ultra Violet Devices, Utak Laboratories, Costech, and Neotech Products among others have opened headquarters in Santa Clarita, transforming this one-time bedroom community into one of Southern California’s most sought-after biomedical communities. GOOD FOR BUSINESS There are several reasons why businesses, and specifically biomedical companies, have headquartered in Santa Clarita. First, the City of Santa Clarita has embraced a “what’s good for business is good for Santa Clarita” philosophy, working hand-in-hand with companies to ensure financial success. The City does everything it can to make working in Santa Clarita “pencil out” through incentives such as: – No Business License Fees – No Utility Users Tax – No Gross Receipts Tax The City of Santa Clarita is also one of the state’s newest Enterprise Zones offering a variety of tax credits, which could equal thousands of dollars in savings each year. The Enterprise Zone designation covers 97 percent of all commercial, business, and industrial-zoned land in the City, making it easy for companies to take advantage of these savings. “We believe there is no better place to do business than in the City of Santa Clarita,” said City of Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar. “We have seen great success in attracting biomedical companies to Santa Clarita and are committed to growing this sector in the coming years.” TRAINING A BIO-TECH WORKFORCE One of the things the City of Santa Clarita does best is collaborate. The City’s non-beaurocratic approach to business and close relationships with industry leaders and local education facilities has created a unique opportunity for biomedical-related business. College of the Canyons recently created the I3Advanced Technology Incubator to help existing and start-up technology-related businesses. The mission of the I3Advanced Technology Incubator is to nurture, grow, and graduate technology start-up and early-stage companies and move them into the local Santa Clarita economy. Designed to join education with entrepreneurship to provide traditional services, including introductions to investors, mentoring programs, student internships, and to help establish connections to a preferred third-party service provider network in the local community. The I3Advanced Technology Incubator will be the only facility of its kind in California that incubates tenant companies on campus, and its connection to one of the fastest growing community colleges in the nation will provide entrepreneurs access to the collective wisdom of a diverse faculty in business, engineering, and biotechnology, digital manufacturing, entertainment, IT, aerospace, nanotechnology, software development and advanced Internet applications. Most importantly, the Incubator is focused on key industry clusters that will provide higher wage jobs to the local economy. “The Incubator program is on the forefront of business development and Santa Clarita is the ideal City to launch this program,” said Jason Crawford, marketing and economic development manager for the City of Santa Clarita. “Santa Clarita is committed to cultivating success through education, networking, technology, and collaboration, the founding principles of the Incubator program.” One of the more unique aspects of the I3Advanced Technology Incubator program is that it focuses on biotechnology. College of the Canyons is now home to a 2,900 square foot clean room with both wet and dry lab capabilities, adding critical laboratory capacity to meet the needs of this growing industry cluster. Additionally, Santa Clarita’s Small Business Development Center offers various services to small businesses and entrepreneurs and was honored as “Top Overall Performing SBDC” by Los Angeles Regional SBDC Network in 2007. The SBDC functions as an education and training element of the Small Business Administration. Though small business is the focal area of the SBDC, the center also works with large companies looking to relocate to Santa Clarita, and offers several low-cost workshops to all interested businesses. MAKING A NAME FOR SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita’s innovative practices, incentives for business, and close proximity to Los Angeles have captured the attention of industry watchers nationwide. Prestigiously ranked by major banks, publications, and research authorities as one of California’s strongest, Santa Clarita’s recent accolades include: – One of the Top Five most Business-Friendly Cities in Los Angeles County (Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation) 2006 and 2007 – 11th Fastest Growing Retail Market in California (California Retail Survey) 2008 – “Best City for Industrial Development” – (Los Angeles Business Journal 2008) – One of the Top 25 Retail Markets in California California Retail Survey As the bio medical industry continues to grow, Santa Clarita looks to attract more companies, like Mannkind Corporation and Advanced Bionics to the area, to further expand the bio medical cluster in Santa Clarita. “Santa Clarita offers all the amenities we need to attract top people to work in our high-tech environment the future looks bright as the bio-med cluster continues to grow [in Santa Clarita],” said Jeff Griener, CEO Advanced Bionics. Santa Clarita’s streamlined approach to business guidelines make the City of Santa Clarita the place to effectively grow a business and succeed. For information about doing business in the City of Santa Clarita please contact the City’s Economic Development Division at (661) 255-4347.

Alliance Protein Labs 3957 Corte Cancion Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 Phone: (805) 388-1074 Tsutomu Arakawa, President Founded: 1998 APL offers contract research services and consulting in the areas of biophysical characterization, protein purification, and protein stabilization. Amgen Inc. One Amgen Center Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-1799 Phone: (805) 447-1000 Kevin W. Sharer, CEO Founded: 1980 Amgen develops, manufactures and distributes human therapeutics (biopharmaceuticals). AmProtein, Inc. 355 North Lantana Street #220 Camarillo, CA 93010 Phone: (805) 807 3362 Matthew Hui, CSO Founded: 2002 In the business of cell-line development, AmProtein has developed a DNA physical structure-based mammalian expression mechanism, which could revolutionize how gene-based therapies are delivered. The company also has a new type of bioreactor that it says is more effective and more affordable than traditional machines. Baxter Bioscience One Baxter Way Westlake Village, CA 91362 Phone: 800-422-9837 Joy A. Amundson, Corporate VP, Biosciences President Founded: 1931 Baxter is a leading manufacturer of plasma-based and recombinant proteins used to treat and vaccinate against human diseases. Baxter also is a leading manufacturer of manual and automated blood and blood-component separation and collection systems. Biometics, International 1170 Avenida Acaso Camarillo, CA 93012 Phone: (805) 383-3535 Ted Silverberg, President Founded: 1993 Biometics develops and manufactures advanced nutritional and weight-loss supplements. Biosource International Inc. (Invitrogen) 542 Flynn Road Camarillo, CA 93012-8027 (805)987-0086 Founded: 2001 (Acquired by Carlsbad-based Invitrogen in 2006) Invitrogen develops immunological and molecular biological products for disease research. The Camarillo location does cellular analysis and distributes cellular pathway exploration tools. Ceres 1535 Rancho Conejo Blvd. Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 Phone: (805) 376-6500 Richard Hamilton, CEO Founded: 1997 Using advanced plant breeding and biotechnology, Ceres develops dedicated energy crops as raw materials for a new generation of biofuels made from plant stems, stalks and leaves, often called cellulosic biofuels. Designed Polymers 1355 Lawrence Dr., Suite 206 Phone: (805) 480-9900 Greg Cauchon, President Founded: 2008 Designed Polymers performs contract research and analytical methods development for the biotech, pharmaceutical, and materials-science industries, and develops polymers for protein modification. iGORi 1534 N. Moorpark Rd. #319 Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 Phone: (818) 594-2023 Kalman Benedek, Principal iGORi focuses on research to identify and eliminate pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical drug development-related scientific problems, with bioanalytical method development, protein characterization, stabilization and other services. Integrity Biosolution 820 Calle Plano Phone: (805) 445-8422 Byeong Chang, President Founded: 2003 Integrity Biosolution provides contract formulation research services to biopharmaceutical and other biotechnology companies, including (but not limited to): pre-formulation, characterization studies, protein/peptide stabilization, and clinical formulations, as well as stability studies, and degradation characterization. Kinamed 820 Flynn Road Camarillo, CA 93012-8701 Phone: (805) 384-2748 Clyde Pratt, CEO Founded: 1987 Kinamed designs and manufactures surgical implantables and instruments for orthopedics and neurosurgery. Kreido Biofuels 1070 Flynn Road Camarillo, CA 93012 Phone: (805) 389-3499 G. A. Ben Binninger, CEO Founded: 2001 Kreido Biofuels’ STT technology is a chemical process intensification system that the company says produces significant time and cost savings over traditional chemical processing methods. The company is currently developing biodiesel plants across the country and licensing its STT system. Kythera Biopharmaceuticals 27200 West Agoura Road Suite 200 Calabasas, CA 91301 Phone: (818) 587-4500 Keith Leonard, CEO Founded: 2005 Kythera Biopharmaceuticals is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on science and innovation in aesthetic medicine. Logos Health Systems 223 East Thousand Oaks Blvd., #326 (805) 557-1001 John Gardner, CEO Maker of VoiceScreen Structured Documentation Guides (SDG’s), preliminary coding and reporting software for off-site-server-based clinical documentation services to hospitals, surgicenters, and large medical groups. Stem Cell Biotherapy 28035 Dorothy Drive, Suite #110 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Phone: (877) 783-6123 Casey Nabavi, CEO Stem Cell Biotherapy is in the business of production and administration of cord blood stem cells, as stem-cell therapy often referred to as Regenerative Medicine. Trinity Therapeutics, Inc. 29219 Canwood Street, Suite 100 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Phone: (866) 305-7565 Ed Bjurstron, President Trinity Therapeutics is developing methods for treating neurological diseases. WindRose Analytica, Inc. 5217 Verdugo Way Camarillo, CA 93012 Phone: (805) 388-2035 Alan Herman, President WindRose Analytica provides protein characterization and method development and testing for biotech companies, including biochemical and biophysical analyses, stabilization, purity determination, validation protocols and various other clinical and consulting services. Compiled by Thom Senzee

In the San Fernando and Conejo valleys, there is an active interest in expanding the number of biotech companies in the area. One way to support existing biotech companies and lay the groundwork for the development of new ones is to provide a steady stable of workers qualified to contribute to the industry. Local colleges and universities are doing just that by offering students the research and laboratory experience they need to embark on the pathway to a career in biotech. California Lutheran University has a particular stake in prepping students for the biotech career field, as it is located in Thousand Oaks, where industry goliath Amgen is headquartered. In addition to sending students to Amgen, CLU has provided students with the educational and background experiences needed to go on to Baxter in nearby Westlake Village and Invitrogen in Camarillo. Popular majors for students who want to work in the biotech industry include biology, bioengineering and biochemistry, according to biology professor Dennis Revie. “Biology, of course, covers all areas of biology, including molecular and tissue engineering, in analyzing how tissues develop in bodies, like skin tissue,” Revie said. While biology provides students with a large swath of scientific knowledge, Revie believes that biochemistry is probably the most appropriate field of study for students bent on a career in biotechnology. “It’s the best biotech-related major,” he said. “They study things like cloning, recombinant DNA and genomics.” Some students, however, don’t directly enter the biotech field. Instead, they go to medical school or pursue various career pathways in the engineering field. To equip them with experience that will translate to biotechnology or related fields, students engage in various research projects throughout their undergraduate careers, Revie said. But he added that students aren’t trained specifically for any one career. “We teach them about subject areas and stuff, but they’re very well prepared to move into those kinds of jobs if they want to.” California State University, Northridge, is another four-year academic institution where students can take classes to prepare for a career in biotechnology. CSUN offers biology, biochemistry, physics and various studies in health and engineering that could lead to a career in biotechnology. Getting jobs Professor S.K. Ramesh is the dean of CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He discussed how the department’s offerings translate into employment opportunities in the biotech field. “Very broadly, if you look at biotechnology as pharmaceuticals and chemicals and so forth, all of that would come under biotech, and, then you have biomedical engineering.” Ramesh said that the latter helps to improve people’s quality of life. Students pursuing that major may study electrical and mechanical engineering, computer science and manufacturing, to name a few. Knowledge gained in such courses of study could translate into an engineering career in medical device manufacturing for biotech companies, Ramesh said. “We certainly have a number of students here who major in electrical engineering and take elective courses that prepare them for a job in this field (biotechnology),” he said. According to CSUN spokeswoman Carmen Chandler, the physics department has a focus in nanotechnology that would directly relate to a future career in the biotech domain. There’s also the environmental and occupational health major. “We deal with the health and safety impact of any technology or any industrial operation,” said Professor Peter Bellin. “If you figure that some of the biotech companies, for example Amgen, would have fairly strong environmental and occupational safety departments because of the large public safety issues that might be encountered, the staff would be our majors.” Students in environmental and occupational health, who learn about disease prevention, including those borne by exposure to biochemical exposure, are required to complete internships. “We have an ongoing relationship with a number of companies,” Bellin said. “Amgen regularly accepts our interns.” Universities out of the Valley that will likely produce the workforce needed to maintain and expand the Biotech Corridor include the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering offers majors in biomedical and chemical engineering, whereas its College of Letters, Arts and Sciences offers majors in biochemistry and biophysics. Meanwhile, students of UCLA’s College of Letters and Science can major in life sciences, molecular, cell and developmental biology to prepare for a biotech career. Community colleges One needn’t obtain a four-year or advanced degree to venture into the biotech realm. Community colleges in the Valley are also preparing students for careers in the field. For the past six years, College of the Canyons has had a biotechnology certificate program. With the help of grants that total more than $3 million, COC has given the program’s enrollees a great deal of laboratory experience, according to Biotechnology Program Director Jim Wolf. “We’ve made workforce development an integral part of our mission,” Wolf said. “We’ve had students get into Baxter, students get into Amgen, handfuls of students get into small companies here and there, right in Santa Clarita.” Many students land jobs that involve biomedical devices, such as pacemakers, insulin pumps and crossover technology, according to Wolf. “They have to know a little about chemistry and engineering, but it’s also kind of practical knowledge,” he said. James Rikel, Life Science Department chair at Pierce College, firmly believes that students bent on a career in biotech don’t need to have a bachelor’s degree to make a foray into the field. Students who want to work as lab technicians may do just fine with a knowledge of basic science fundamentals, he said. The biotech company that employs them will then provide the appropriate training, he continued On the other hand, students who are interested in getting bachelor’s degrees or beyond would generally follow the biology major’s path at Pierce, “which is very similar to a person going into medicine or dentistry or something of that nature,” according to Rikel. “Here at Pierce, it involves traditional courses in chemistry, physics and biology.” Such students would also have to take math through calculus, he added. Students who are serious about mastering biotechnology can take advantage of partnerships and programs Pierce has with the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and Caltech, Rikel said. One advantage Rikel believes that Pierce has over large universities, though, is that students are able to obtain direct experience with recombinant genetics because there is lab space to do so. “What’s different at a community college is we don’t have the burden of research. (In universities), a lot of the space in laboratories has to be looked at from a point of research. We don’t have labs competing against something else.” Rikel also said that Pierce’s offerings are strengthened by the school’s strong relationship with Amgen. Professor Marty Ikkanda is the director of the Amgen Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program at Pierce. The program began 15 years ago but was expanded five years ago. It’s designed to expose the world of biotechnology to high school students, as well as college students and middle school students, to a lesser degree. “The program mirrors what actually goes on in biotechnology,” Ikkanda said. “If you think of biotechnology in the traditional sense, biotechnology isolates a gene that codes for some useful protein or some kind of cell to produce that protein, and the gene is isolated in use by humans. What this program does is (allow) students to do a genetic manipulation with DNA. So, what the program does is that it really shows the complete story of biotechnology in the traditional sense.” Ikkanda wrote all of the curriculum and the science that’s used in the program. “I’m a firm believer that what gets students excited about science is actually doing hands-on science as opposed to reading about in the textbooks,” he said. “This is an opportunity that the Amgen Foundation presented to us that allows students to do all of this hands-on work.”

Famed author Gertrude Stein wrote in her book, “Everybody’s Autobiography,” that when she returned to California on a lecture tour in the 1930s she expressed a desire to visit her childhood home in Oakland. She couldn’t find the house, and wrote, “There is no there there.” Many (mostly so-called media mavens and Westside wonks) have thought she might just as well been writing about Our Valley. There are those ill-informed few who still think of the San Fernando Valley as an endless collection of post-World-War II cracker box houses. ‘Taint true. Our communities have as much personality as any others in the country we’re just better at not taking ourselves too seriously. Johnny Carson’s beautiful downtown Burbank wasn’t a put-down, it was a wry grin in the mirror. When Bob Hope said, “You know what San Fernando Valley is? Cleveland with palm trees,” he forgot to mention that Toluca Lake was his beloved home for decades and decades and decades. Our yesterdays and todays blend into a seamless time progression that defy easy chronologic divisions. In the past, you knew you lived or worked in the Valley when: – There were towns named Fernangeles, Girard, Platt Ranch, Dundee, Monte Vista, Oat Hills, Zelzah and Roscoe now all long gone. – You ate at Otto’s Pink Pig, Mary’s Lamb, Don Drysdale’s Dugout, the King’s Arms, Tail o’ the Cock, Moongate, or Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor. – The newspapers were all writing about the latest likely traffic enhancements for the Valley, including the Reseda Freeway, Laurel Canyon Freeway, Sunland Freeway, Whitnall Freeway, Malibu Expressway, and theMulholland Expressway. – Just a few of your favorite tourist and recreational attractions were: Bird Wonderland in Encino, Busch Gardens in Van Nuys, the San Fernando Valley Fair at Devonshire Downs, the Iceoplex in North Hills, and the RollerCade in North Hollywood. – You listened to KGIL or Magic 94FM the Valley’s own radio stations. – You listened to jazz at Donte’s, danced to country music at The Palomino, or rocked out at Bob Eubanks’ teen-age club, the Cinnamon Cinder, where he staged The Beatles’ first West Coast press conference in 1964. – All of your favorite movie stars lived in the Valley: Clark Gable, William Holden, John Wayne, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Robert Redford, W.C. Fields, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, and hundreds more. – You watched (but couldn’t yet smell) the Budweiser plant going up in Van Nuys, in 1953 55 years ago. – You were a member of the Road Runners, Valley Vegas, Vandits, Lobos, Valley Hi-Los, and Igniters, or one of the Valley’s other car clubs that cruised Van Nuys Blvd. on Wednesday nights. Today, you know you live or work in the Valley when: – “Over the hill” relates to South-of- Mulholland, not your age range. – You know at least five neighborhood streets that help you avoid the 405/101 interchange. – You wait more than 90 minutes to be seated at Maggiano’s. – At least two of your City Councilmen are also cops. – You don’t know anyone who has flown in or out of Whiteman Airport. – You can see business signs in English, Spanish, Armenian, Hebrew and Chinese all in the same block. – You don’t have a single radio or TV station devoted to your 1.8-million-population region. – “Rapid transit” means a bus. – There are more Starbucks than hospitals. – There are more Starbucks than gas stations. – There may be more Starbucks than people (OK, just a slight exaggeration). – When you’ve driven 17.2 miles of Ventura Blvd. and gone through six communities (Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Universal City) and never known where one ended and the next began. – You Google “San Fernando Valley” and get 194,000 listings. – You know that El Cab is not Spanish for a taxi. “Yesterday” began long before August 5, 1769, when the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola led his group of 64 men and 100 mules through the Sepulveda Pass. Yesterday more likely began with the first Native American settlements, hundreds of years before that. “Today” is gas hitting $4 a gallon, mansionization and a Performing Arts Center at CSUN. What is truly fascinating is to watch one morph into the other, in fits and starts, ups and downs, pluses and minuses, as we observe Our Changing Valley. “The historian is a prophet looking backward.” Friedrich Von Schlegel, German philosopher Martin Cooper is President of Cooper Communications, Inc., President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission, Founding President of The Executives, and Vice Chairman of the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley. He is a Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter, and Past President of the Encino Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at mcooper@ coopercomm.net .

In early February, Ventura County business leaders, educators, government officials and others met to discuss strategies to retail the talent castoffs from pharmaceutical giant Amgen. While no definitive answers came from that meeting, what could be agreed upon is the silver lining to the layoffs from Amgen headquarters last fall those scientists sticking around to start new biotech companies. It’s development the region has not seen much of despite Amgen’s long presence in the Conejo Valley. “Given (Amgen’s) dominant place in the economy there hasn’t been a lot of spin-off from it,” said Bruce Stenslie, president and CEO of Economic Development Collaborative Ventura County. When those spin-offs come, Stenslie and others in the public sector will welcome them with whatever assistance they can. Sometimes it comes in the form of money, other times in a phone number for a real estate broker with a hot piece of property perfect for a start-up or just general encouragement in their endeavors. Help from the public sector with life science companies with their well-educated workforce and high-paying jobs is critical because other states and countries are more than happy to lure them away. Historically, such things have happened in the region when a company completes research and development here and then moves away to commercialize their products, said Ahmed Enany, president and CEO of the Southern California Biomedical Council. Lack of space for biotech start-ups, especially near major universities, is a shortcoming in Los Angeles. In Ventura County, changing agriculturally-zoned land to another use is not without great difficulty. A public-private partnership makes all the more sense in the face of a dwindling supply of industrial-zoned land in the city, Enany said. Municipal and state governments pay lip service to getting their share of the life sciences pie but their efforts often fall short in results. For instance, a proposed research area on 16 acres near USC received the backing of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during his run for mayor but no movement has been made and it remains to be seen whether the area will take off as described, Enany said. A bright note is the plan by California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo to develop 27 acres for a research park with an emphasis on biotech and life sciences activities. The university put out a request for proposals in February. “If this project happens it can take advantage of proximity of students to do collaborative research, and gives space to expand,” Enany said. No incentives necessary The City of Camarillo is home to the cellular analysis division of international biotech firm Invitrogen, and Integrity BioSolution and AmProtein Inc. both part of the California Biotechnology Research Consortium. Nearby Thousand Oaks has its share of the industry in iGori; Alliance Protein Laboratories; energy crop developer Ceres Inc.; and of course, Amgen. Neither city provides financial incentives for life sciences companies to open and operate within their borders. After all, it may not be necessary. Private investors offer a fair amount of money to accomplish what Thousand Oaks wants done in that sector, said Gary Wartik, economic development director. In recent months, Wartik attended three meetings between biotech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists with the aim of pairing good ideas with a supply of cash. An investment in the business community is worthy in the standpoint of providing his professional time, Wartik said. “Many of these ladies and gentlemen are very good scientists but their business experience is very limited,” Wartik said. John Fraser, a management assistant in the Camarillo economic development office, stops short of saying the city pines for biotech to locate there but said those types of companies are more than welcome. Strong relations with area real estate brokers can get them beating the bushes for a location with the square footage and amenities companies are seeking, Fraser said. The city stresses getting businesspeople to meet with municipal staff on issues of zoning and permitting so all the facts are known up front. “We pride ourselves on working well on the planning and building side that folks need,” Fraser said. Private financing isn’t the only option available to biotech start-ups. The Ventura County EDC has gone to the U.S. Commerce Department with a proposal to change a revolving loan fund earmarked for businesses damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake to a general fund available to any industry. The collaborative expects to hear back soon on whether the Commerce Department approves, Stenslie said. If the feds back the proposal, $1.3 million becomes immediately available for lending, with another $500,000 being collected on live loans, Stenslie said. “It is not a ton of money, but a million-and-a-quarter is at least an immediate infusion of community-based lending opportunities,” Stenslie said.

By BRENT REINKE This area is very fortunate to be home to one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Amgen. However, despite its presence in Thousand Oaks for over 25 years, we have not witnessed the growth of a life sciences industry in this region spawned by scientists and executives who have previously left Amgen to start their own ventures. There are many opinions and explanations which have been given for the lack of the development of such industry in this area. Yet, rather than focus on why such industry has not previously developed, the more relevant and exciting story is the very unique and real opportunity available to this region to finally change that situation. Through prompt and proper efforts, the misfortune of the recent layoffs at Amgen can be turned into a huge positive for this area to finally create and build a vibrant life sciences industry. Three basic elements are needed to create a successful life science venture: (1) experienced management, (2) funding; and (3) commercializable IP. As a consequence of the Amgen layoffs, a significant pool of very experienced and talented executives and scientists is now available in this area to either start or join new life science ventures. Importantly, many of these individuals and their families have strong ties to this area and are therefore very motivated to remain here. Prominent Bay Area venture capital firms have already expressed their interest in identifying and funding companies which are comprised of management teams and scientists who previously worked at Amgen. Lastly, between the development of new IP by these scientists and accessing the active technology transfer programs available at Cal Tech, UCSB, UCLA, USC and other universities, commercializable IP will be available for these new ventures. Although the executives and scientists interested in starting new ventures may have tremendous industry experience, the task of starting and growing a new venture will involve numerous issues and necessitate skill sets which may be foreign to many of them. Accordingly, of equal importance to having the basic elements for launching and growing a life science venture is the establishment of an “ecosystem” in the region comprised of investors, organizations and professionals experienced in assisting life science ventures. The importance of this ecosystem in providing resources, educational information, advice and networks to these new entrepreneurs cannot be overemphasized and will be a vital component towards fostering and supporting a new life sciences industry. Although aspects of this ecosystem currently exist in the 101 Corridor, significant efforts will need to be made to further organize and develop the ecosystem by bringing together the necessary “players”. Realizing the importance of this ecosystem led to the development last year of The BioTech Forum which provides educational and networking events for executives, scientists, entrepreneurs and investors involved in the life sciences industry. With continued focus and effort, the necessary ecosystem can be developed and will play an integral role in assisting the new ventures which will be started by former Amgen executives and scientists. Our region has been presented with a unique opportunity to turn the misfortunes of the Amgen layoffs into a new regional life sciences industry. However, failing to act quickly on this opportunity will cause many of these former Amgen people to relocate to areas such as Boston, San Francisco and San Diego in order to secure new job opportunities. To lose this exceptional talent pool and the economic benefits which would result from the creation of numerous life science ventures would be incredibly unfortunate. The necessary resources need to be promptly committed to assist in the development of new local ventures which will provide job opportunities, thereby retaining both this invaluable talent pool and the significant potential economic benefits which will be generated from a new regionally based life sciences industry. Brent Reinke is a corporate partner in the Westlake Village office of Musick Peeler & Garrett, co-founder of The Biotech Forum and chairman of the Gold Coast Business Forum.

By THOM SENZEE Contributing Reporter If one could actually call the Conejo Valley’s small biotech community in 1980 an industry, AMGen was the local industry leader from the moment of its launch that year. In 1983 AMGen became simply Amgen, and was soon recognized the world over as the leader in commercial biotechnology. With Amgen’s ascent also came a small measure of global awareness for a little town called Thousand Oaks. But a funny thing happened: Amgen remained the region’s only homegrown biotech giant. True, Baxter Biosciences/Baxter Healthcare has also set up shop nearby in Newbury Park and in Westlake Village. But Amgen stands alone as the only blockbuster drug maker that came of age alongside Interstate 101 north of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, America’s big biotech centers have grown up in Northern California, San Diego and New England. But that doesn’t mean Amgen is the only biotech firm along the 101 Corridor with global impact. One company that is particularly adept at creating global partnerships and seeking out emerging markets is Camarillo-based AmProtein Inc. “Currently, our partners in China include the state-run biopharmaceutical company in Harbin, the North China Pharmaceutical Company in Shijiazhuang, and privately owned AmProtein-China in Hangzhou,” says the company’s founder and chief scientific officer, Dr. Matthew Hui, a former Amgen scientist. AmProtein has garnered acclaim, attention and praise internationally for having in development promising new ways of delivering chemical therapies via fast-growing cell vectors. “We will license out this technology and commercialize bioreactors,” Dr. Hui said, speaking from China via an Internet connection. He added, ” We have invented two dual-domain drugs which double block two pathological pathways and are good for multiple factor mediated human diseases.” Whereas in past years biotech companies mainly went to China to find production solutions, and Wall Street or the Silicon Valley to find cash, Hui is in China looking for partners and funding sources. While plenty of funding still comes to biotech from domestic venture capital sources, changes in financial markets have some firms looking across the Pacific for investors. (Find a closer examination of funding along the 101 Biotech Corridor in another article in this special report). “Due to our lack of fundraising capability in the U.S., our strategy is to use the availability of Chinese funding and an educated workforce,” Hui says. Amgen has faced its own financial challenges during its history, and not just those evidenced by the massive layoffs of recent years. It was not until after spending the 1980s methodically sowing seeds for clinical and commercial success, and overcoming financial challenges along the way, that Amgen enjoyed its golden-child adolescence during the 1990s. Wide reach That was when Amgen’s first homerun drugs, Neupogen and Epogen made the company famous and very profitable. Today the company’s tentacles stretch out from T.O. to places like Kentucky, New York and The Netherlands, to name just three of the dozens of countries where Amgen has facilities. Still, the hub of Amgen’s global biotech empire continues to be its 45-building headquarters in Thousand Oaks. AmProtein hopes to create a similar realm with Camarillo at the center of its worldwide operations. But there are already as many ways the 101 Biotech Corridor’s global influence is manifest as there are products biotechnology has created. An influential trade publication based in the United Kingdom, called Bioenergy Business, recently invited a Thousand Oaks firm that is developing more cost-effective and viable methods of growing so-called “biofuel” crops, to lay out the latest research for its readers. Of course the company took the opportunity for a little plug of its own cutting-edge work in the article. “Leading energy crop companies such as Ceres are working to address these issues through advanced breeding biotechnology and optimization of crop management practices,” said Anna Rath, director of business development at Ceres. Scientists at Ceres believe biofuels from crops could replace 75 percent of the gasoline used in the U.S. With China and India poised to overtake the U.S. as greater consumers of petroleum products, a lot of eyes from around the globe are watching Ceres. Further north along Interstate 101 from the Thousand Oaks companies is MannKind Corporation, which is headquartered in Valencia, and has locations in New Jersey and Connecticut. MannKind’s global reach is in the promise of the therapeutic products the firm is in advanced stages of developing, as well as in the geographic scope of its clinical trials. “We’re focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic products for diseases such as diabetes and cancer,” said Hakan S. Edstrom, president and COO of MannKind. The company’s leading investigational product is its Technosphere Insulin System, which is now in Phase 3 of clinical trials in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. MannKind is also working on cancer drugs. “We have initiated a Phase-1 study on a potential cancer vaccine,” Edstrom says. “It is designed to target two tumor-specific antigens on the basis of their level of expression in commonly occurring adult malignancies, such as ovarian, prostate, renal, pancreatic, breast and colon carcinomas as well as in melanoma.” In other words, MannKind could one day have an effective cancer vaccine. Such an advent would constitute a genuine blockbuster drug and Amgen would gain a hometown peer a new biotech giant on the block. Today there is a concerted effort to increase the mark of the 101 Biotech Corridor on the world map in a big way. To that end groups have formed to promote, organize and sell the products of existing commercial entities along the 101, as well as entrepreneurs, investors and scientists who also want to launch companies along the corridor. The Biotech Forum is one such group, founded by attorney Brent Reinke and venture capitalist John Dilts. It was modeled on another business-incubation group the pair is involved in and includes weekly networking opportunities, educational programs and conferences to help new and established biotech businesspeople grow their operations. But a more narrowly focused group is actively seeking, and getting, clients from all over the world. The California Biotechnology Research Consortium is a biotech company’s biotech company. Established by former Amgen scientists, CBRC helps biotech companies get therapies to market. Or, as one consortium official put it, “Get your biotechnology product to the patients who need it, rapidly and inexpensively.” Global clientele The companies that comprise the California Biotechnology Research Consortium are all located in the Conejo Valley, offering a global clientele all of the components needed to commercialize a drug, starting with recombinant protein expression, which is perhaps too simply stated, finding a biological medium for getting therapies where they need to go on a cellular level. Another drug-development component, provided by member firm Alliance Protein Laboratories, is protein purification and characterization, which, among other things, ensures product stability. Camarillo-based APL says it is the only U.S. contract lab offering specific kinds of protein characterization services. “If a biotech company wants the prestige of saying they have received American laboratory analysis using the biophysical techniques we pioneered such as analytical ultracentrifugation, they have to come to us for characterization services,” said Tsutomu Arakawa, Ph.D., president and director of protein chemistry at Alliance Protein Laboratories. Foreign biotech companies who see U.S. laboratory validation as having a beneficial impact on the marketing of their drugs, as in “Analyzed in the U.S.A,” will only find it in Camarillo, according to APL. Another consortium member is iGORi Method Development of Thousand Oaks. IGORi can literally take an idea for a biopharmaceutical product and develop a drug that can then be tested for safety and efficacy. IGORi works with other California Biotechnology Research Consortium members to provide some of the analysis, characterization and delivery components along the way. The consortium’s end user delivery-systems member is Integrity Biosolutions, of Camarillo. Integrity offers clients products and services ranging from manufacturing and advanced drug stabilization to injection devices. For biotechnology firms, the consortium’s attraction is based on access to experienced, former-Amgen scientists on a contract basis, and one-stop shopping for the services member companies offer. But it is CBRC member AmProtein which may be most likely to take its place next to Amgen as a worldwide leader in biotechnology. In fact, Hui hopes one of his company’s discoveries will soon merit consideration for a Nobel Prize in scientific discovery. “This discovery has been confirmed in mammalian cells,” he said. “In brief, we can express antibody or protein at commercial levels in one step with gene number amplification.” AmProtein’s first-ever DNA physical structure-based mammalian expression mechanism, which may be common for all eukaryotic cells, represents a second revolution after Dr. L. A. Chasen’s landmark discovery of gene amplification in 1982. Eukaryotic cells are a cell type upon which all complex organisms are based. AmProtein also has a new type of bioreactor, a device used for transferring oxygen in cells, a procedure that is elemental to the development of gene therapies. But Hui won’t say if he thinks AmProtein will be the next Amgen. “I worked at Amgen for many years,” he says. “Amgen was the best company in the U.S (but) they have become a huge company more bureaucratic and less efficient.” Whether or not Amgen has become too bureaucratic is a subjective question, but no one can dispute its massive size. The company has facilities in at least 35 countries, including Australia, France, Latvia, Russia, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Finland, Japan, Portugal, and seven of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico (source: Amgen). AmProtein has facilities in China and Camarillo for now. “Camarillo was originally selected due to its affordability,” says Hui. “In the past few years, almost all of our discoveries took place in Camarillo in simple conditions.” Trouble with funding But that affordability was ultimately negated by a lack of financial resources in the U.S. for AmProtein’s first product, Current, which will be released in summer. “Due to the difficulty of funding in U.S, the second stage commercial refinement activities took place in China with our partners there,” Hui says. “The production is currently handled in China due to favorable government policies and cheaper labor force.” AmProtein also sees a ripe customer base for high-output gene-expression product “Current” abroad, not just cheap labor for its production. “Current is badly needed by Chinese vaccine manufacturers and antibody manufacturers as well as the Indian, Russian and Mexican biotech industry,” Hui says. “The release of Current will also help small companies and university labs in the U.S. to quickly transform their research success into commercial success due to its affordability.” In fact, Current could accelerate discoveries at university laboratories around the world by simple virtue of the increase in the volume of research the product will allow them to do. “At its peak, Columbia University got $1 billion per year for licensing fees (for Dr. L.A. Chasin’s dihydrofolate reductase discovery),” says Hui. So, are large U.S. firms asleep at the wheel these days when it comes to potential biotech revolutions bubbling under the surface at small domestic companies and those abroad (or in the case of AmProtein visa-vie Amgen, just up the road)? “Our progress has been well received by most of the Chinese companies, the Chinese Government, plus some Mexican and Indian Companies,” Hui says. “In the U.S, many people know of our progress but only two medium size companies have taken us seriously, Fibrogen and Geron.” Of large U.S. biotechnology firms, Hui reports, only one Novartis has been interested in AmProtein’s work to date. “Amgen and Genentech are more snobbish in their dealings and take a more cautious approach to our progress,” he says. Biotech giant Genentech, a name that at various points in time has meant: the big bully from the North Country (South San Francisco is Genentech’s world headquarters), the on-par competitor, the courtroom opponent and the licensing partner. From a global standpoint, Amgen may arguably be seen as the stronger of the two. From a regional or corporate-headquarters perspective, Genentech is the big fish in a big pond, while Amgen is one of two big fish in a tiny puddle of biotech companies. Reinke of the Biotech Forum believes that could change in the not-too-distant future. “Our goal is to make this area a major global biotech cluster,” he says. “We have a lot of work to do, but don’t be surprised if it happens sooner rather than later.” If that is the case, drivers may one day see a lot more of those squat corporate monikers on the manicured lawns of sweeping campuses joining the ranks of Baxter and Amgen with names such as MannKind and AmProtein. MannKind’s potential cancer vaccine and AmProtein’s cell-vector revolution (not to mention its already debt-free status and expected $100 million revenues in five years) are just the kind of companies that give the 101 Biotech Corridor growing global reach.

The Valley is home to a wide variety of apparel companies; some design, produce and distribute their own product, while others are more like management entities. Here we look at the four largest apparel businesses in our coverage area. K-Swiss When you think of K-Swiss, you probably think of the “Classic:” an all-white, leather tennis shoe that has been the company’s best-seller for more than 40 years. Generally you don’t mess with a classic, but in the world of footwear, there’s a good chance you’ll be left in the dust if you don’t expand your horizons. That’s why, said David Nichols, executive vice president, they are making some bold moves. “We’re retooling,” he said. “K-Swiss is getting more into real performance-level running shoes for triathletes and marathon runners,” while at the same time returning to the company’s roots in tennis. “We’re signing tennis athletes again,” said Nichols. The company launched a provocative new advertising campaign featuring some hot tennis up-and-comers during the Final Four basketball tournament last month. Nichols said the ads got noticed. “We noticed a jump in our website traffic,” after the first ‘Keep It Pure’ ads premiered,” said Nichols, “and it’s part of our further entrenching of our positioning in, as we refer to it now, Premium Sport getting the sports part back to K-Swiss really. They have also gone into the apparel business with K-Swiss clothing now in Barneys stores and on Saks.com. Rather than just putting the K-Swiss brand on someone else’s designs, Nichols said, the company has chosen to do it internally with an in-house design team. You can even design your own tennis shoe on the company’s website. In 2001, K-Swiss bought Australian foot-wear company Royal Elastics. This wholly-owned subsidiary is edgier than the more traditional line of its parent company, with current shoes sporting designs licensed from Andy Warhol’s estate, and rocker Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers lines. With Royal Elastics, the company is making its first foray into being a retailer, with the opening of its first physical store on trendy Main Street in Santa Monica in January. “We’ll be able to use it as a design presentation center, said Nichols. “It gives us an unedited way to speak to the consumer rather than deal with buyers and everything.” The publicly-owned, but family-operated company is hoping that all this re-tooling will be the medicine its ailing bottom line needs. Its 2007 annual report shows that net income at year end was roughly half of the previous year, dropping from $76,860,000 to $39,070,000. Domestic sales revenues dropped 36 percent, offset partly by a 14 percent increase in worldwide sales. Nichols is not expecting things to look much better in ’08 but, he said, “We have the luxury to take a long-term view.” He cites the management team’s track record of coming back after tough times plus its solid supply and distribution infrastructure, cash reserves and lack of debt as the reasons investors in the company have not fled in panic. “Our major stockholders know our plan,” said Nichols. “They’re not looking at K-Swiss as a short-term opportunity.” Jerry Leigh Another family-owned, but privately-held apparel business is found at the other end of the Valley; in Van Nuys, where Jerry Leigh has its international headquarters. President Andrew Leigh runs the business but still shares his office with his father Jerry Leigh. Mr. Leigh, as the founder is fondly called by employees, still comes in two days a week. And although Andrew’s children are a little too young to be worrying about what they’re going to be when they grow up, they do come into the office regularly. “They love the clothes,” said Licensing Manager Melissa Moskowitz. “Every time his 12-year-old is here I talk to her about (our new Abbey Dawn line).” Moskowitz is referring to the new clothing line being designed by rock star Avril Lavigne that will be launching at the beginning of July, exclusively in Kohl’s department stores. “It’s the first time as an organization in our 46-year history that we’ve actually been the brand owners,” she said, adding that it’s a new experience being responsible for licensing product to others. Usually Jerry Leigh is the licensee. The company designs apparel with images licensed from a multitude of sources; from old favorites Winnie the Pooh and Smurfs, to contemporary brands like Hannah Montana and Harajuku Lovers. But that doesn’t mean they’re not designers. Usually, Moskowitz said, a brand owner creates a style guide, provides graphics to the licensee and the apparel company will just slap that art on a t-shirt and sell it. Not Jerry Leigh. “We look at the style guide for inspiration, but our art department creates its own creative art,” she said. “I think (the brand owners) appreciate how innovative our artists are and the unique spin our brands have.” They will now be putting that spin on another new license from Palomita, a line of clothing designed specifically for Latinos. Palomita is the brainchild of Molly Robbins, who was born in Mexico City and is a veteran of the apparel industry. “It’s a market we all know is there and we’ve made attempts to penetrate it in some way,” said Jerry Leigh sales executive Phil Roddy. “We have tried in the past taking Disney characters and having them ‘saying’ something in Spanish or having Betty Boop saying ‘ & #380;Que Bonita?’ but for some reason it didn’t work. It didn’t translate to the Latino community.” The Palomita line will use authentic Latino brands like Lulu, a soft drink sold throughout Central and South America, and Bimbo, as common to Latinos as Wonderbread is to North Americans. “We’re testing it with Mervyns, Sears and K-mart,” said Roddy, “because they have Latino regions and know where to ship them within those regions.” These three corporations have marketing people that do nothing but focus on the Latino market, he added. “So when I presented the licensed property to them, they took it to those (marketing) people and they got very excited about it.” Palomita will be shipping to stores by the end of May. Jerry Leigh does not release financial information, but one might surmise that with 400 employees in Van Nuys alone (the company has a total of about 700 employees in the U.S. and overseas) that they’ll be around long enough for yet another generation to put their own stamp on the company that started out making polyester suits in the ’60s. Cherokee Inc. Van Nuys-based Cherokee, Inc. started out as a footwear company in 1973, moved into apparel in 1981 and transitioned into a licensing company due to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the mid 1990s. “A new shareholder (Bob Margolis, who co-founded apparel division) came in and had the idea of using the Cherokee brand for licensing rather than manufacturing its own goods,” said CFO Russell Riopelle. “We’re really more of an apparel/brand management company.” In addition to the Cherokee brand, the company also represents many others, including Sideout and Carole Little. In February, Cherokee Group completed a multi-year licensing agreement between Norma Kamali, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The publicly-held company released its year-end financial report earlier this month, and although on the face of it the numbers sounded really bad net income dropped nearly 53 percent from the previous year, from $34,791,000 to $16,435,000 the company explained that 2006 income included an extraordinary event. “2007 was pretty similar to what we had the year before,” said Riopelle, “Not taking into account the extraordinary revenues from the Mossimo finder’s agreement sale.” Regardless of the explanation, shares in Cherokee closed down at $30.13. The company has paid a dividend of $3 per share in the last year and expects to continue to return excess cash to the shareholders in the form of dividends. Riopelle said that growth is expected to come more from the international arena than from domestic sales. “We want to bring international brands to us, and also take our brands international,” he said. “We’ve built a nice set of relationships with international retailers.” The company has announced it will be launching new initiatives over the next 12 months in Peru, Israel, Brazil, the Middle East, India. Earlier this year, Cherokee announced that they had hired the firm of Goldman-Sachs to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company. Riopelle said he couldn’t speak about that right now as the process is ongoing. Juicy Couture When you think of high fashion, you don’t generally think Pacoima. Yet, this oft-maligned part of town is actually the birth place of Juicy Couture. The company was founded by Gela Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy in 1996 but really started making waves with a collection of low-riding terry and velour “track suits,” that had the word “juicy” splayed across the rear end of the pants. In April, 2003, the company was acquired by Liz Claiborne, Inc. and has since become one of Claiborne’s fastest-growing divisions. According to the year-end annual report in 2007, “The Juicy Couture brand is on a rapidly expanding trajectory.” One of four “direct brands,” under the Claiborne umbrella, Juicy’s net sales in ’07 were $170 million, up a whopping 43 percent over the previous year in a rather lackluster retail environment. Last year, 19 specialty stores and six outlet stores were added to bring their total retail space inventory to 37 specialty stores and 15 outlets. More are coming. The Valley will be getting its very first boutique in May, when the new Americana at Brand mall debuts. Although Claiborne is headquartered in New York, the Juicy brand is still primarily managed locally. “We have over 200 employees in the Pacoima corporate office,” said Diana Duran, public relations director. (Technically, it’s in Arleta, but old habits die hard.) “Pamela and Gela, the co-founders and co-presidents are still designing,” said Duran, “We have design, merchandising, production, PR and customer service and finance here.”

The writers strike ended two months ago. But many in Hollywood remain on the brink. Some are at risk of losing their homes. Some can’t afford groceries. Others have filed for bankruptcy. Still others struggle to work enough hours to hold on to their health insurance. Across Los Angeles, many crew members who work behind the scenes and on the sets of television shows and movies are still quaking from the temblor of the 100-day writers strike that shut down scripted TV production. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-workers28apr28,1,1540720.story

By Joel A. Balbien, CFA, Ph.D . From an economic perspective, the Biotechnology industry utilizes biological systems, living organisms, or their derivatives to solve challenging problems and increase productivity within the agricultural, food science, medical, and energy industries. It is a knowledge based industry that integrates techniques, subject matter, and other innovations developed in university and private laboratories with interdisciplinary efforts in genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, cell biology, chemical engineering, and information technology. The results are new products and services that extend and improve the quality of human life, bio-remediate toxic spills, reduce the use of harmful pesticides, impart disease and drought resistance to food crops, and enable production of 2nd generation biofuels from biomass waste and environmentally benign energy crops grown on degraded land. Los Angeles and Ventura Counties are fortunate to be home to three leading universities in biotechnology research, [UCLA, USC, and Caltech]; four world renowned medical research Centers [City of Hope, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Huntington Medical Research Institute, and Children’s Hospital]; the world’s largest biotechnology company [Amgen]; and Ceres, a leader in plant breeding and plant genetics for energy crops. These institutions and their research collaborators scattered across the state, nation, and world, form a neural network that combines the creativity of the best human minds with the power of supercomputers to create a pipeline of innovation and discoveries that both startups and large companies are translating into new products. However, this engine of biotechnology innovation has its challenges. Between 1998 and 2003, the National Institute of Health’s annual Research and Development (R & D;) budget increased from $13 billion to $26 billion with the Los Angeles Basin receiving nearly a $1 billion in 2004. R & D; spending by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies’ has also been growing at a real 8% annual rate, reaching about $40 billion in 2004. However, the rapid growth of research spending has had little effect on the pace at which new drugs are developed. For instance, annual approvals of innovative new drugs by the Food and Drug Administration increased over the 1980s and peaked sharply in the mid-1990s but then experienced a pronounced six-year decline. Overall, the total number of new drug approvals each year declined from a high of 53 in 1996 to only 20 in 2005. As a result, the average cost of developing an innovative new drug, including expenditures on failed projects and the value of foregone alternative investments has grown significantly, and now exceeds $800 million. Given the apparent declining productivity of both government and private R & D;, it may be surprising to learn that in 2007, biotechnology was the second most active area of venture capital investment nationally ($5.3 billion), as well as in southern California ($1.2 billion), and Los Angeles County ($151 million). So how does one reconcile the appearance of a declining return on investment in biotechnology R & D; with rising investment by presumably sophisticated financial investors? The explanation may lie in a change in the structure of the biotechnology industry, whereby the burden of commercializing rapid advances in basic research from universities and other non-profit research institutions is shifting from large vertically integrated life sciences companies to smaller, more efficient and flexible venture backed (and other) startups. In this new life sciences ecosystem, the larger companies with the expertise and capital to navigate a costly regulatory process, leverage a global supply chain, and manage a more price sensitive healthcare distribution channel, effectively outsource their R & D; to small companies. This outsourcing manifests itself through corporate venture capital investments (e.g., Amgen, Dow, and P & G;’s corporate venture capital funds that are active in southern California), collaborations (e.g., Ceres and Monsanto), and merger and acquisition transactions where large life sciences companies pay for performance and success (e.g.., Amgen’s 2006 acquisition of privately held Avidia, and $90 million in potential milestone payments). Giving this evolving biotechnology industry landscape, Federal and state government leaders often ask the question, how can we accelerate the processes of innovation and commercialization to create more products and higher paying jobs from the tens of billions of dollars that the federal and state governments invest in university research and SBIR grants to private companies? As an advisor to the Larta Institute, that designs and manages national commercialization programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institutes of Health, I think about this question often, and advise small companies on how they can get maximum commercial bang out of each dollar, whether sourced from the government or private investors. I believe the recipe for success involves uniting the genius of our university or private research scientists with the product and customer focus of a marketing analyst, and the business acumen of a professional manager with the embedded knowledge and commercialization experience of an industry. On very rare occasions, all three talents reside in a single entrepreneur, like Irwin Jacobs who created Qualcomm from human capital spun out of the UC San Diego, or LINKABIT, or in a dynamic duo like Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli, who built Broadcom after completing graduate work in the Electrical Engineering department at UCLA. However, god creates very few Irwin Jacobs so most early stage startups would benefit by sharing leadership and ownership among a tri- or multi-partite founding team (e.g., Rathman, Johnson, Bowes, Wallace, Salser, and Caruthers of Amgen fame) that successfully combine science, marketing, and management. Another key strategy often required to build a successful biotechnology startup is a determined pursuit of collaborations with large companies. Just as it may in some cases takes a village to raise a healthy child, industry-leading companies can play an important role in fostering the development of startups that commercialize new technologies and products, boost an industry’s productivity growth, and stimulate more productive research efforts by internal development teams. A successful partnership requires that small companies master the strategy of cooperative competition or “co-opetition,” and the associated art of protecting, sharing, and monetizing intellectual property. Managing the proper balance between competition and cooperation in a partnership with a large company can be the key difference between a small biotechnology company that remains small or fails, versus a small company that grows into a large company, and/or attracts a high acquisition price. Government research managers and agencies that want to accelerate commercialization and job creation in knowledge-based industries by awarding tens of billions of dollars in SBIR grants to small businesses can improve the government’s return on investment by: (i) recognizing the early foundation of a successful startup, and differentiating in their screening process between lifestyle companies that are destined to become grant mills and wards of the state, versus a rising star that is well positioned to attract private investment, and generate commercially successful products; (ii) supporting commercialization assistance programs like Larta’s CAP that trains first-time entrepreneurs, provides guidance in strategy, and fosters business relationships with industry partners; and (iii) providing grant funding to startups that are utilizing bioinformatics, computation biology, and the mapping of the Human Genome to identify and screen for certain genes or pathways in a patient population that may be responsible for isolated, but harmful side effects from new drug candidates. There are also viable strategies for local government and business leaders that want to attract biotechnology companies and other knowledge based industries to their metropolitan statistical areas. Just as physical capital seeks the highest rate of return, biotechnology entrepreneurs seek communities that are home to other biotechnology companies, provide a plethora of networking opportunities, and underwrite facilities for incubating early stage companies. They also favor communities in close proximity to leading universities offering a high quality of life including excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, clean air, affordable housing, and adequate transportation infrastructure. The 101 Life Sciences Corridor has strengths in some of these areas, and serious challenges in others, so there is plenty of work for local governments in addressing the weaknesses, which will ultimately benefit everyone in the region while promoting growth in the local biotechnology industry. Joel A. Balbien, CFA, Ph.D., is managing director, GreenTech Consulting, LLC