Biotech industry to lobby in Albany

January 23, 2008 at 3:49 pm by Eric Anderson, Deputy business editor

Times Union Business News

The New York Biotechnology Association, representing the state’s biotech industry, will be in Albany Feb. 12 to meet with legislators and their staffers and to seek continued support for research and expansion.

“Achieving biotech industry growth and sustainability will be central to our discussions,” said Nathan Tinker, the association’s executive director. “We invite biotechnology executives from across the state to join us for this important event and look forward to productive discussions that will help accelerate the growth of New York State’s biotechnology industry.”

Employment statewide in the biosciences has expanded by 53 percent over the past decade, with more than 58,000 people now working in the field, earning an average annual wage of $63,000.

New York ranks third, behind California and Massachusetts, in total biomedical research funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health.

Locally, the Capital Region has the fourth highest concentration of research, testing and medical laboratory jobs in biotechnology of any metropolitan area nationwide, according to the Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Institute, surpassed only by San Jose, San Diego and Albuquerque.