Tuesday, October 23, 2001

Biotechnology official foresees regional growth

Brandon Price, chief of Goodwin Biotechnology Inc., says industry has great potential for growth in Western Virginia.

By JEFF STURGEON
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Western Virginia is rich in biotechnology businesses and research that could grow to have national prominence with ample funding and support, according to a top industry official based in the New River Valley.

    "This mirrors, though on a smaller scale, biotech hotbeds like Boston and San Francisco," Brandon Price said.

    The Virginia Biotechnology Association has chosen Price for its annual leadership award, marking the second year in a row that the honor has gone to someone in Western Virginia. Tom Robertson, former head of Carilion Health System, received it last year for spearheading the Carilion Biomedical Institute.

    The statewide biotechnology advocacy group wraps up its fifth annual conference today in Alexandria. The event sold out all 570 tickets.

    In an interview last week, Price talked about Western Virginia's biotechnology industry, its needs and its potential. The 53-year-old resident of Montgomery County is chief executive of Goodwin Biotechnology Inc., a Plantation, Fla.-based manufacturer of cells and cell-derived human therapeutic compounds. Although the company is based in Florida, its executives are in Virginia and are considering Southwest Virginia among potential sites for a new manufacturing plant, Price said.

    According to Price, Western Virginia, which he said includes the University of Virginia and James Madison University, has many assets: top universities with strong research centers; entrepreneurs in academia and the business community; and a cluster of existing companies.

    Two things could drive growth faster, he said: more venture capital and manufacturing facilities for biological materials. Goodwin's proposed plant would help meet that need were it to move here, he said.

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