Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 30, 2007 06:46 PM
CHANDLER - The Valley is in the early stages of a biotech explosion that could boost its economy and cure life-threatening diseases, a panel of experts told more than 250 political and business leaders, educators and farmers at the city's first biotech symposium Friday.
But the four-hour event at the Crowne Plaza San Marcos hotel was more than rosy predictions.
It was an education session for community leaders and muster of support in the face of protests by animal rights groups, said Arizona CURE founder and former Chandler mayor Jim Patterson. The groups have objected to drug testing on animals.
The local target of their protests has been Covance, a global drug testing company making plans to build in Chandler and lauded by city officials.
The company sent two of its top executives to the symposium. "Biotech is the future of science, health care and economic growth," said keynote speaker James Greenwood, CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
"It's why every city in the country wants to attract biotechnology."
A BIO conference five years ago was where Chandler officials first met with Covance executives, said Economic Development Specialist Christine Mackay.
Covance has yet to break ground for its Chandler facility, but it is already collaborating with Arizona-based TGen and the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute and sees the Valley as a future hub for medical research, said Wendel Barr, Covance president for early development.
Barr and Peter Sausen, Covance executive director and program manager, told how it takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a new drug to market and that animal testing is required. Michael Mobley of the ASU Biodesign Institute said cutting edge research in the state is working to develop early detections and cures for cancer, a wrist watch-style diabetes monitor and electricity generated by bacteria.
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