Federal approval last week of Cialis, a drug whose benefits are realized in private, is cause for very public smiles in Snohomish County.
ICOS Corp., the biomedical firm based in Canyon Park, spent the past decade developing the erectile-dysfunction drug. And because its effects can last as long as 36 hours, Cialis has a significant edge over its chief competitor, Viagra, which wears off after only four hours.
It’s the first drug approved in the United States for ICOS, a 13-year-old company that provides around 700 relatively high-paying jobs. Its future is brighter than ever, and it stands as an important example of just how important the biotechnology sector is to this county’s future, as well.
Bothell is home to Washington’s largest cluster of biotech companies outside of Seattle, and much of that lies north of the county line in Canyon Park. Biotechs also have a significant presence in Everett. It’s coincidental that they’re located near Boeing, whose importance to the county’s economy they may someday overtake — whether the 7E7 is built here or not.
Even if aerospace remains strong here, the recent recession is a painful reminder that we must work to diversify our economy.
If not for a growing biotech presence and its positive ripple effect, the recent economic downturn may have been even more severe here. "Thank goodness for biotech," Bothell’s community development director, Bill Wiselogle, told the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce recently. "To be sure, we have lost some businesses and have had some downsize significantly, but we weren’t hit as hard as some employment centers."
As companies like ICOS begin seeing years of research come to fruition with the approval of new products, our region’s leaders must work to support them and draw new innovators here. Beyond a generally business-friendly environment, our colleges and universities must have the support they need to feed biotech and other high-tech industries with the visionary thinkers and skilled workers they’ll need to compete. Last week’s announcement by the University of Washington and Washington State University that tighter caps will be put on enrollment if state financial support doesn’t improve is a dire message legislators must heed.
Just as companies like ICOS invest in their future success, the state must invest in future talent or risk seeing the promise of biotech achieved elsewhere.
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