BIOTECH: Oceanside angles for business at BIO convention

By BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer | Friday, June 13, 2008 5:12 PM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- This military town is looking for more than just a few good biotechnology companies.

With the world's largest biotechnology convention taking place in its backyard next week, the city of Oceanside has prepared to show its wares ---- relatively inexpensive land, biotech-savvy workforce and a salubrious seaside climate ---- to biotech companies looking to expand.

Oceanside usually lets a statewide marketing program called Team California speak for it, said Jane McVey, the city's economic development director. But for the Biotechnology Industry Organization's international convention in San Diego, Oceanside is staffing its own booth, No. 2913, in the exhibition hall's California Pavilion.

"We wanted to stand out from the crowd," McVey said.

The city is teaming up with MiraCosta College's biotech center in its promotion. It's also distributing a brochure prepared for the convention, and will hold an evening reception at the pavilion where staffers will hand out "Biotech by the Beach" T-shirts.

Oceanside is courting biotech because the industry provides well-paying jobs, McVey said. In return, Oceanside offers a close-knit partnership between the city, MiraCosta, and private companies to nurture biotech.

Genentech Inc. is the city's largest biotech success. The South San Francisco-based biotech giant employs 593 people at its Oceanside manufacturing plant. At the plant, wages start around $30,000 to $40,000 a year for lower-end jobs, while the most skilled jobs pay from $60,000 to $80,000 a year.

Oceanside also has Nitto Denko Technical Corp., which employs 397 in the city doing research. Others are International Stem Cell Corp., which makes embryonic stem cells from unfertilized human eggs and employs eight; and Andergene Labs, which provides personalized genetic testing, employing three. Total Oceanside payroll of the four companies is 1,001.

Partnering with MiraCosta makes sense because of the close role the college has played with Oceanside's biotech community, McVey said. The college trains manufacturing workers for the Genentech plant, and also helped bring the plant, originally owned by Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp., to Oceanside, McVey said.

McVey said the former president of MiraCosta, Tim Dong, weighed in to support Oceanside's bid.

"I said, could I get a letter from you to include in our packet that you would work closely with the company, that you could provide customized training ... He said, 'Absolutely, no problem.' "

Later, MiraCosta's dean of math and science, Ric Matthews, offered to transform a lab into a biotech training center. With support from a biotechnology engineering trade group and the contractor DPR Construction, McGraw/Baldwin architects and other groups, MiraCosta got the training center, McVey said.

"They're currently teaching people all the time, who are then getting jobs," she said.

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.

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