THAT'S LIFE; BIOSCIENCE THRIVES AS COMPUTERS GET THE ATTENTION.

Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Earlier this year, much of the area's science community was getting into an enthusiastic lather over the ``Digital Coast'' moniker that marketers bestowed on the Greater Los Angeles region. Ahmed Enany dismissed it.

As director of the Southern California Biomedical Council, Enany believes the emphasis on computer technology, as implied in that word ``digital,'' overlooks one of the region's most vibrant technology-driven fields: bioscience.

``People want to focus on sexy companies, but there are a lot of (bioscience) firms that are easy to overlook but provide plenty of employment,'' Enany said.

Indeed, the engineering heft and manufacturing prowess that have long marked the area come together in its biotechnology and biomedicine sectors. About 150 local companies and more than 12,000 employees draw their livelihoods from the field, and their pursuits are as varied as bioscience itself.

Broadly, biomedicine is the development of medical devices, from laser scalpels to prosthetic limbs. Biotechnology is the use of techniques like gene splicing and DNA analysis to develop drugs and other products like artificial blood and human insulin.

Based on sheer size, heading both packs is Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc., which with more than 5,000 employees and $2 billion in sales last year, is the largest publicly held biotech company in the world. Indeed, what Walt Disney Co. is to local entertainment firms, Amgen is to the rest of the biotech and biomed fields, Enany said.

Unlike the vast majority of biotech firms, which are years away from marketing a single product that ultimately might have an annual market of a few hundred million dollars, Amgen already has two billion-dollar sellers in the blood cell stimulators Neupogen and Epogen.

But to some extent the company is an anomaly. With the exception of the research divisions of drug makers like SmithKline Beecham and Pharmacia & Upjohn, there are relatively few biopharmaceutical companies in the Valley.

Where the region really shines is in the medical-devices field. And in that sector, the Valley is nearly unmatched. From Chatsworth-based International Remote Imaging Systems, which makes urinalysis workstations, to insulin infusion pump developer MiniMed Inc. in Sylmar, Valley firms apply engineering skills fed and honed by decades of aerospace and medicine studied at places like the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the John Wayne Cancer Institute.

Though it has no medical school of its own, the Valley has emerged as a logical locale for entrepreneurial biomed companies, Enany said. ``If you look at the availability of land and labor prices, the Valley is an excellent place to be for device manufacturers of all sorts,'' he said.

But things could be better. The city of Los Angeles has done little to promote the biomed and biotech industries, Enany and others say, while bending over backward to help other industries, such as multimedia and entertainment industries.

The cheerleader role has been left largely to people like MiniMed founder Alfred Mann, considered by many to be the godfather of Los Angeles biomedicine. A UCLA graduate and founder of five biomed companies over the past 30 years, Mann recently donated $100 million to USC to create a biomedical research center and has promised a like sum to UCLA toward the same end.

He also is developing a commercial biomedicine industrial park on land owned by California State University, Northridge.

``Al single-handedly with his donations is leading the way,'' Enany said. ``We're pleased to see that at least someone is making an effort . . . to beef up the industry in this area.''

THE FACTS

MAJOR PLAYERS

Biotechnology and biomedicine are both well-represented in the area, though for different reasons. Amgen single-handedly puts this region on the biotech map, while scores of medical-device manufacturers make the region one of the nation's premier biomedicine hubs.

Amgen Inc.: With more than 5,000 employees and $2billion in annual sales, it is by far the largest biotech or biomed firm in the region. Sales growth of Amgen's two standard-bearer drugs, Epogen and Neupogen, has fallen in recent years, however, and the company is looking to purchase the rights to a new ``home run'' molecule.

ONES TO WATCH

MiniMed Inc.: Founded by chairman and Los Angeles biomed godfather Alfred Mann, MiniMed makes insulin-infusion pumps that eliminate the need for daily injections by diabetics. The 138-employee Sylmar firm has been on a buying spree of late, gobbling up smaller competitors.

One Lambda Inc.: The 130-employee Canoga Park firm makes equipment and biological agents used in organ transplant, paternity testing, disease research and medical microdiagnostics, all fields in which significant sales growth is likely in the coming decade.

FORECAST

Exceedingly bright. Thanks to Mann's philanthropy, Los Angeles is poised to become the nation's premier site for biomedical development, with $100million research centers at both UCLA and USC. Barring the emergence of a dark-horse competitor, local biotechnology will remain in the shadows of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. Assuming it is able to market a third wonder drug, it too is poised for growth.

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