[March 08, 2013]

Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center Responsible for 573 Jobs and $579 Million

The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, in Doylestown, Pa., managed and established by the Hepatitis B Foundation in 2006 and co-owned with Delaware Valley College, proudly unveils a 2013 Economic Impact Study by Byler Associates, LLC showing impressive results. The news is good, especially for the Bucks County community and State of Pennsylvania as a whole. According to the report, the current total economic impact from the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center and its affiliated organizations from 2009 through 2012 amounts to $579 million for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and 573 jobs.

The future vision of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to the creation of a world-class biotechnology center, is the same as it was at its inception - growth. The plan is to continue to build an even stronger community consisting of high-value personnel in Doylestown that will be known in the region and the state as a true accelerator of biotechnology growth.

"We promised we would deliver," said Dr. Timothy Block, president of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, Hepatitis B Foundation and its Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research and as well as professor of Microbiology, Drexel University College of Medicine. "Since its creation in 2006, the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center has been an economic driver that has increased jobs and revenue in Bucks County and the State of Pennsylvania. Not to mention the many new discoveries from our Center that are now entering human use studies and can help people. All of this highlights the reason to continue to promote the successful investment in the Center since it has prospered during a slow economic period and weathered the most recent economic situation so well."

According to the 2013 report, nearly 90 percent of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center's aggregate impact ($507 million) accrues to Bucks County, Pa., while an additional $72 million spills over to benefit the Commonwealth at large. In regards to job creation, the Center's labor impact includes 573 jobs with 263 jobs directly associated with the Center and 310 indirect jobs (184 in Bucks County and 126 jobs elsewhere in the state) as a result of additional spending and output.

Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) - the nation's leading advocacy organization for more than 1,200 organizations - and the region's former congressman during the time when the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center was established, notes that, "The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center is a true success story. We started with an abandoned warehouse which had lost 140 jobs and converted it to a high-tech incubator of innovation. The result: hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars of economic development in a field that brings hope to untold numbers of patients."

The study's findings could not be better news for State Senator Chuck McIlhinney (R-Bucks) who has supported the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center from the beginning. He said, "The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center is a major asset to Bucks County and to the State of Pennsylvania. The Center serves as an incubator for new jobs, new technologies and thriving commercial development for our region. It is as economically important as it is inspirational."

At its founding, the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center was a closed warehouse, converted into a state-of-the-art research facility to accelerate its research mission, to nurture biotech start-up companies in Bucks County, Pa., to promote regional economic development and job creation and to educate and train tomorrow's researchers. Now, there are more than 47 organizations at the Center, including 40 small start-ups, with some based on scientists' ideas from the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research and Drexel University, and many from pharma and biotech professionals who were displaced from companies and came to the Center because of the environment which is supportive of biotech entrepreneurs.

For example, Dr. Kunwar Shailubhai, Chief Scientific Officer of Synergy (News - Alert) Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - a company at the Center that has grown to a value of more than $480 million - describes the Center as "…an excellent atmosphere for scientific research as well as for interaction with other scientists and entrepreneurs…(the facility) provides the space we need to advance our discovery portfolio and outstanding networking opportunities." He added that the Center is a magnet for attracting and recruiting talented scientists who reside in the region which contributes to the Center's success in making a positive economic impact.

View a video summarizing the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center 2013 Economic Impact Study.

About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center: The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center is a nonprofit research organization created and managed by the Hepatitis B Foundation, and owned in partnership with Delaware Valley College, that is dedicated to the creation of a world-class biotechnology center, to the promotion of regional economic development and job creation, and to the education and training of tomorrow's researchers. To learn more, visit www.pabiotechbc.org.

About the Hepatitis B Foundation: The Hepatitis B Foundation is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B and improving the quality of life for those affected worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. To learn more, visit www.hepb.org, follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @HepBFoundation, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hepbfoundation or call (215) 489-4900.

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