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Blair Meets with Biotech Execs; BRITISH PM SAYS EXPANDING FIELD IS `FUNDAMENTAL'
By Steve Johnson
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
1 August 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair conferred with Bay Area biotechnology executives Monday about everything from the promise of stem cells to the price of drugs, before heading to Los Angeles to unveil a global warming pact with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Blair told the executives gathered at Genentech's South San Francisco headquarters that he is determined to expand Britain's biotech industry.
``This is an area that I think is of fundamental importance for my country and its economic development in the future,'' Blair said. The prime minister also said he considers the accomplishments of Genentech, which has several blockbuster cancer-fighting drugs, ``extraordinary.''
After the meeting, Genentech's chief executive officer, Arthur Levinson, told a cluster of employees he was impressed with Blair's grasp of biotech issues. Although Levinson said he had no immediate plans to bolster his company's dealings with England, he added, ``the British have some great scientists, and I hope we can do more with them.''
In addition to Levinson, Blair met with executives from Gilead Sciences of Foster City, Entelos of Foster City, PDL BioPharma of Fremont, StemCells of Palo Alto, Cell Genesys of South San Francisco and Amylin Pharmaceuticals of San Diego.
Also at the meeting was Zach Hall, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which oversees the state's $3 billion stem-cell research effort, and Arnold Kriegstein, who heads a stem-cell research program at the University of California-San Francisco.
Several British biotechnology experts who met with reporters in San Francisco before the Genentech session said they believe their country has a significant lead over the United States in stem-cell research.
Scientists working with human embryonic stem cells, which are derived from embryos and can grow into any type of tissue, face fewer restrictions in Britain than in the United States. President Bush has limited federal financing for such research.
But with the $3 billion California voters authorized in November 2004 for stem-cell research, the British representatives said, the state soon could cut into Britain's lead.
``We can feel their footsteps thundering behind us,'' said Martin Uden, the British consul general in San Francisco.
Overall, the United States has a much bigger biotechnology industry than the United Kingdom, the British experts noted. And they said it was important for Britain to strengthen its biotech sector, because other countries are fast developing biotech industries of their own.
``The challenge for all of us is to make sure we can compete effectively with the growing power of countries like India and China,'' said Andrew Cahn, chief executive of trade and investment in the United Kingdom. ``The competition that is coming from those countries and other emerging markets is going to be intense.''
Blair met Saturday with executives of a number of other Silicon Valley technology companies including Cisco Systems, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. After flying to Los Angeles, he and Schwarzenegger announced plans to work together to help fight global warming.
Contact Steve Johnson at sjohnson@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5043.
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