Published July 2005

County's biotech sector
something to praise
and improve

Snohomish County's aerospace sector wasn't the only local industry to make waves across the Atlantic in June.

Just as Boeing was announcing new sales orders for its jet planes and plans for its next-generation 787 Dreamliner at the Paris air show, a top-level official with Schering AG was praising the county's proactive biotech stance during a luncheon with German business executives.

Dr. Winfried Haumesser, director of industrial operations and environment for the biotech company, cited a speedy permitting process, skilled workers and a concentration of other biotech firms among the reasons Schering AG decided to site a manufacturing facility for subsidiary Berlex Laboratories within the county.

Berlex is investing more than $70 million in a Lynnwood-area facility to manufacture biotech drugs such as Leukine, a cancer drug that may have potential as a treatment for Crohn's disease as well. At the outset, the plant will employ 70 workers in highly skilled, family-wage jobs with the potential to employ as many as 180 by 2009 if product demand grows.

During the June luncheon, which was attended by a state trade delegation that included Gov. Christine Gregoire, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Snohomish County Economic Development Council President Deborah Knutson, Haumesser predicted that more biotech and biomedical manufacturers would follow Schering to the county.

Already, Snohomish County is home to 25 percent of Washington state's biotech jobs, with companies such as ICOS Corp., CombiMatrix and SonoSite Inc. located here. But Haumesser's prediction reinforces the notion that the county is a progressive hub for the biotech industry, one that should be strengthened to ensure a diverse economy.

It was welcome to note, then, that Haumesser's words did not evoke a sense of complacency in the county leadership, but rather an intensified desire to promote an atmosphere conducive to biotech excellence, specifically, by ensuring a skilled work force for incoming biotech companies.

To that end, Reardon suggested that a four-year polytechnic university located in the county would be a step in the right direction — and that a Legislature-approved study concerning creation of a university in Snohomish County should underscore the need for such an institution.

"Investment in education and technology infrastructure is essential to the ongoing success of the biotechnology industry in Snohomish County," Reardon said during his June trip abroad. "A skilled and educated work force — particularly in life sciences and bioengineering disciplines — is the foundation on which the next generation of Berlex Laboratories will be built."

And, with such an outlook, it is hoped that the "next generation of Berlex Laboratories" will be built here.

— Kimberly Hilden, SCBJ Assistant Editor

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