Milken Institute report gauges life sciences impact on Phila. area – Philadelphia Business Journal:

The report, commissioned by several Philadelphia-areaw biotech and economic development organizations, found one in six jobs in the Philadelphiaw region can be traced to the lifesciencez industry. “The Greater Philadelphia regiohn is seeing the return on the investments they have made in theire lifesciences industry,” said Ross director of regional economics at the Milken an economic think tank in Santz Monica, Calif. “The combined effort of business, policy makers, academic institutions and entrepreneurs are shapinghthe region’s future as a top locationn for economic growth and high-wagee jobs.
” The report comes out at a time when the region’ws smaller biotech companies are struggling to attrac t capital. This year has already seen of Pa., sell it assets, the board of in Plymouthu Meeting, Pa., approve a dissolutiomn plan, and (NYSE Alternext US:ILE) in Exton, Pa., announcs it was running out of cash andpursuing debtor-in-possession financinbg in connection with a possiblwe bankruptcy filing. The study’s “currenrt impact composite index” category evaluates measurez such asemployment level, relativw size and industry growth.
The Philadelphia region which for the study included parts of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland ranked second in the Milken Institute’s overall composites index, trailing only Boston and just ahea of Greater San Francisco. The overallk composite index used the current impacrt score along with a ranking fora region’d pipeline of potential innovative new product and “small business vitality indices” to rank what the study describezs as the elite “life sciences” clusterss in the country. Philadelphia was ranked third overalpl when the Milken Institute last conducted a studyin 2005.
In othefr categories, Philadelphia retained its thirdr place ranking for innovationm pipelines and moved to third from fifthy for life scienceswork force. The region had its lowesty ranking, ninth, in the study’s small businesx vitality index. The study found the region’s life sciencez directly employed 94,400 workers and generated $7.7 billiob in direct earnings. “It’s encouraginv that the report recognizesthe region’sw capacity for innovation and entrepreneurshiop and that access to risk capital has increased during the past five said Barbara Schilberg, managing director and CEO of BioAdvance, the Philadelphia-basede operator of the Biotechnology Greenhouse of Southeasternj Pennsylvania.
“The findings also reinforce our belief that theree are additional opportunities for regionapl partners to leverageGreater Philadelphia’s to create new businesses that fostet medical innovation and at the same time contribute to a strongg regional economy.” The Milken Institute Study was commissioned by Pennsylvanis Bio, BioAdvance, Select Greater Philadelphia, Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Congress, Delaware BioSciencee Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
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