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Dayton Business Journal...
Ohio a hotbed of
biotech job growth
by Brittany Hart, DBJ Reporter
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Dayton region and Southwest Ohio has seen a boom in biotech and
pharmaceutical jobs, with 20 percent growth since 2000 and making it
one of the fastest-growing industries in the region.
Hundreds of Dayton-area amputee patients are walking, working and even
playing sports again after a helping hand from Hilmo Hodzic.
Hodzic is the president of Fidelity Orthopedic, a prosthetics and
orthotics company in Dayton that is one of more than a dozen
Dayton-area biotech firms helping to fuel a $14.5 billion economic
impact in Southwest Ohio.
“We are using cutting edge technology that is improving patients’
lives,” Hodzic said.
The company, which has eight employees, custom-fits prosthetic limbs
and orthotic braces. One of its latest offerings is a micropressor
knee, which features artificial intelligence that allows the device to
continuously learn and adapt to the patient’s walking style and
environment for more natural movement. Another new product, a vacuum
pump suction socket, allows for a better fit for the prosthesis,
eliminating sliding or slipping during movement that can cause painful
limb sores.
The Southwest Ohio region’s biotech industry created 43,000 jobs,
directly and indirectly, in 2009 throughout the region. BioOhio, the
state’s nonprofit trade and advocacy group for the biological sciences,
recently released findings about the industry’s growth.
The report shows that Southwest Ohio had the second-highest growth rate
in terms of number of biotech locations in 2009. While the industry
still is concentrated largely in northeast Ohio, the number of
Southwest Ohio bioscience locations has increased by an average of 4.1
percent annually since 2000, according to BioOhio.
Most of southwest Ohio’s bioscience employers are medical device and
equipment manufacturers, with nearly 5,000 employees. The
second-highest employment sector was pharmaceuticals and therapeutics,
with 3,000 employees.
In the Dayton region, multiple biotech businesses are rolling out new
products and seeing significant revenue growth.
Alkermes Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKS), a pharmaceutical company headquartered in
Waltham, Mass. with a manufacturing facility in Wilmington, has grown
revenue 20 percent in the past year with the recent FDA-approval of
multiple medications, including Vivitrol, a once-monthly injectable
medication for alcohol and opioid dependence. It also has several other
medications pending FDA-approval.
Fidelity Orthopedic, which has two offices — one in northern and one in
southern Dayton — is seeing its patient population grow to 40 per week
as diabetes reaches near “epidemic” status, Hodzic said.
Patients who lose their limbs to the disease are being custom-fitted
for prosthetics and undergoing intensive rehabilitation at Fidelity.
Hodzic said Fidelity is using the latest technology to fit the
prosthetic devices to patients, which allows for natural movement and
aesthetic appeal.
Other biotech companies in the Dayton-area include medical device
manufacturer AtriCure (Nasdaq: ATRC) in West Chester and pharmaceutical
firms Aptalis Pharma Inc., formerly Eurand Pharmaceuticals Inc., in
Vandalia; Encore Pharmaceuticals in West Chester; and AcuTemp in Dayton.
The pharmaceutical industry remains bustling. For example, spending on
prescription medicines rose 2.3 percent last year in the U.S. to $307
billion, according to a new study by IMS Institute for Healthcare
Informatics.
And overall spending on prescription medicine has nearly doubled over
the past decade. In 2001, prescription medication spending was at $172
billion.
The top-selling prescription medications in 2010 were: Lipitor, made by
Pfizer Inc.(NYSE: PFE); Nexium, made by AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN);
Plavix, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and Sanofi-Aventis ;
Advair, made by GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK); and Abilify, made by
Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The region’s biotech industry also expands to biomechanics and
biosciences. Biomechanics companies include X-Spine in Centerville and
Mauch Inc. in Dayton. In addition, bioscience companies include
STATKING Consulting Inc. in Fairfield, Therapeutic Alliances in
Fairborn and Oakwood Laboratories LLC in Oakwood.
The region’s biotech industry also extends to imaging companies such as
CADx in Beavercreek and DMRH Inc. in Mason, and genetic and paternity
testing companies including Orchid Cellmark , formerly known as Gene
Screen. Orchid Cellmark, a global paternity and forensic testing firm
with an office in Dayton, was sold to Laboratory Corp. of America
Holdings for $85 million in April.
Statewide impact
Overall, Ohio bioscience companies have added more than 10,000 jobs for
a 19.5 percent increase since 2000, while overall employment in the
state declined by 8.6 percent, the report said. The research by BioOhio
and Cleveland State University also indicated that more than 200 new
biotech companies entered or were created in the state for a total of
1,350. The industry’s total economic impact is estimated at $62 billion.
In 2009, seven southwest Ohio counties had about 14,800 bioscience
jobs, or 23.7 percent of the total, with about a $1.1 billion payroll.
It also had nearly 300 locations of bioscience companies, for 16
percent of the state total. This includes some companies that have more
than one site. The number of sites has increased about 4 percent a year
in the region throughout the decade.
“Despite the effects of the recession, the central region’s bioscience
sector experienced growth in all economic measures being studied
between 2000 and 2009,” the report said.
Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal
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