Biomedicine plays role of growing importance in L.A.

Among local economists, biomedicine is often referred to as an industry of the future for Los Angeles County.

In fact, it is already here.

An estimated 500 to 700 companies - with 24,000-plus employees - actively produce biomedical products in L.A., according to the Southern California Biomedical Council. An equal number of local firms promote, distribute or offer related services.

Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and ophthalmic instruments - the bulk of the county's biomed industry - generated $2.7 billion in gross revenues in 1995, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., and last year the Food and Drug Administration approved more than 100 new medical devices from L.A. firms.

The companies are nearly as diverse as the population itself, producing everything from drugs to surgical devices to bionic implants. Similarly, they can be found throughout the county, from South Central L.A. to Pasadena to Beverly Hills.

Case in point: Alfred Mann. The 71-year-old UCLA graduate has started five biomed companies in L.A. over the last 30 years, including MiniMed Inc., which produces insulin infusion pumps for diabetics, Advanced Bionics Corp., the only U.S. firm with an implant for the profoundly deaf, and Pacesetter Inc., a leader in the field of cardiac pacemakers.

"There just are a large number of biomed companies covering a large spectrum of health care services and products here," said Mann, who attributes that to the presence of major universities such as UCLA and USC.

Ahmed Enany, executive director of the Southern California Biomedical Council, notes that the industry operates quietly in part because it is comprised mostly of small to mid-size companies scattered about the county.

"That's part of the strength," Enany said. "We're not bunched up."

L.A. County's biomed community is not as large as that of Orange County, which boasts an estimated 800 companies. But with UCLA, the University of Southern California and the California Institute of Technology, the industry enjoys access to some of the most advanced research in the world.

In large part because of the universities, L.A. has outpaced other metropolitan regions in garnering research grants from the National Institutes of Health, according to Enany.

But even that does little to put the breadth of L.A.'s biomed industry in perspective.

"Biomed and multimedia are new industries, part of our new economy," said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Economic Development Corp. "The government stats don't measure the new economy very well at all, especially on the local level."

In part, Kyser said, that's because many local biomed companies are small and unaccounted for by commercial surveys, or their output is subsumed in broad-stroke categories such as "manufacturing."

There are some big names out there, to be sure. Alpha Therapeutic Corp. in Los Angeles is one of the world's top makers of blood derivative products, with $400 million in 1996 sales. And just to the north, in Thousand Oaks, is Amgen Inc., which is considered the most successful biotech company in the world.

But the local biomed scene is marked by a panoply of small companies, generally with fewer than 100 employees each and often managed by the same entrepreneur-scientists who founded the firms.

"There's not one or two actors here who control the stage," Enany said. In ways large and small, he noted, biomed is going on all over L.A.

The question is, for how long and at what rate of growth?

The abundance of biomed companies comes in spite of the local business environment, not because of it, say business owners. And future expansion, they insist, will hinge on greater government-industry cooperation.

"The complications of doing business here are frankly outrageous," said Mann.

To date, biomed entrepreneurs have set up shop in Los Angeles largely because they were born and raised here or had existing business ties to the county, Mann said. But increasingly they and out-of-state graduates from local universities are locating in Orange County or San Diego, where governments are more friendly to their needs.

"I find it very attractive here," Mann said. "But if I were starting a new business I wouldn't consider doing it (in L.A.) again."

Biomed businesses are required to collect dozens of often redundant permits for things like storing hazardous materials, disposing of waste water, and expanding facilities. While other counties may require equally stringent controls, they are far more flexible on issues like zoning, waiving of fees and taxes.

What's needed, entrepreneurs say, is a streamlining of the permit process, perhaps through a dedicated county office.

Also important will be for local officials to better educate themselves on an industry to which they pay so much lip service.

One opportunity could involve plans to convert half of the defunct General Motors auto plant in Van Nuys into a state-of-the-art biomedical industrial park.

Spearheaded by U.S. Rep Howard Berman, D-Panorama City, the plan is still nascent, with Berman trying to drum up support.

Though the site itself would accommodate no more than two dozen firms, support from the county in getting the project off the ground could pave the way for larger projects down the road, analysts say.

Without this kind of cooperation, L.A. is likely to play a diminished role in biomedicine in coming years.

"We could end up losing a lot of businesses to neighboring regions," said Enany.