Supplement: Where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here? By Mark Schweiker RELATED ARTICLES Growth and Development A Region Poised for (More) Growth Big-City Excitement Meets Country Charm Navigating the Network Mark Schweiker is president & CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Courtesy of Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce We like to think that recognizing the Greater Philadelphia region as the capital of the life sciences began with the Milken Institute study released in 2005. The study did make a big splash, proving to many the importance of life sciences to this community. However, the true birth of the life sciences in Greater Philadelphia began a long time ago; this region is the birthplace of numerous attempts to modernize health care. It is home to the first hospital in the country, the first school of pharmacy, the first US medical school, and the first hospital dedicated to children. As a result the culture of this region has been formed by a long history steeped in the improvement of public health. The first school of pharmacy produced quite a few noteworthy graduates, including: John Wyeth, William Warner of Warner-Lambert, Robert McNeil, Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs, Josiah Lilly and Eli Lilly, and Gerald Rorer of Aventis. These outstanding graduates helped to lay a strong foundation for an impressive number of top-notch public health and biotech professionals to follow. They set the culture for this region as leaders and as humanitarians pursuing a noble cause: preventing illness and improving overall public health. For example, one of this region's most important life science leaders was the late Hubert J.P. Schoemaker, PhD, who was a cofounder of Centocor and founder of Neuronyx. He was widely known as an inspiration and mentor to many industry CEOs, scientists, and executives and for his outstanding work in bringing diagnostic and therapeutic products to market, as well as offering guidance on scientific and technical issues. Because of his invaluable impact on this region's biotech industry, Pennsylvania BIO awarded Schoemaker with its first-ever lifetime achievement award. Because of the people and resources we have in Greater Philadelphia, our future is bright and our economic opportunities endless. In addition to the outstanding biotech leadership in this region, Greater Philadelphia is home to 88 colleges and universities and 360,000 students. This burgeoning pool of trained talent provides a ready-made workforce for the life science industry in the region. The Greater Philadelphia region is home to pharmaceutical giants such as Cephalon and GlaxoSmithKline. Their leaders are today's generation of life science luminaries, including Frank Baldino, who is often credited largely with Cephalon's success, and David Stout, GlaxoSmithKline's president of global pharmaceutical operations. The workforce skills that exist in our region support the incredible concentration of pharmaceutical companies that continuously and successfully bring life science products to the community-at-large. What's more, this region also has the resources necessary to perform research, navigate regulatory affairs, manufacture products, provide marketing support, and distribute products to the end users - making it a one-stop shop for commercialization. Once you join together each piece of the life science puzzle, this region's human capital, educational institutions, research capabilities, and support resources make this the perfect place to expand or locate a life science business. So where do we go from here? Because of the people and resources we have in Greater Philadelphia, our future is bright and our economic opportunities endless. Critical to our success is the brain power and technical skills driving the life sciences industry. This is the place to be for any life science business, and we are well-positioned for the future.

Supplement: Where do we go from here?

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