This region is booming in bioscience, which promises the most exciting developments for the entire globe, according to Edmonds resident Jack Faris.
Faris is the president of the Washington Biotechnical and Biomedical Association (WBBA) and spoke recently to the Edmonds Daybreaker Rotary. He said the WBBA goals are global and ambitious, including:
• Prevent, predict and use breakthrough treatments for diseases worldwide.
• Improve global health.
• Feed the hungry more effectively. This means better crops for the nutrition of the world’s needy.
• Expand the use of biofuels for better health (perhaps 25 percent of future national energy needs may be supplied in the next decade).
• Create innovations in health care.
“This is an exciting, unprecedented time to improve health in the world,” Faris said. “Someday each of us will have a genome map that will tell us how to care for our bodies.” Stem cell research, its controversy notwithstanding, has demonstrated that stem cells have the ability to heal the human heart, literally. Scientists are now working on other vital organ research using stem cells.
This boom could be very local if planned well. For example, groundbreaking occurred this past week in Edmonds for a new medical building at 76th Avenue and 220th St. and the partners say it already is 90 percent full.
Many of these companies innovating medical devices are based in Snohomish County.
“The Phillips company is making portable defibrilators that you can buy on Amazon.com and are easy to use and save lives,” Faris said. Seattle-based Northstar has a device that stimulates stroke victims to help them recover in the first four months after a stroke. “People have recovered speech and major motor abilities with this treatment,” he said.
Faris talked about Snoqualmie’s Light Sciences, a drug company that can insert a drug throughout the body and transform it with a tiny light cathode to a fatal oxygen that can kill specific tumors. EKOS is a Snohomish County company with a sophisticated “weeper” hose and ultrasound to administer treatment.
“Puget Sound is actually the world leader in global health,” Faris said, because of the Gates Foundation work and other companies like PATH. Located in Ballard, PATH has a “safe birth kit” for specific underdeveloped countries where infant death mortality is high. The kits are widely distributed to save the lives of thousands of women and babies. They also have a self-destructing syringe to prevent reuse.
Some changes are happening faster than society can adapt, apparently. “Our present health care system (insurance) is not compatible with these newest innovations,” Faris said. Preventive medicine is not usually covered by insurance companies. Government at all levels and other institutions need to adapt for the future of health care. “We’re going to have to make the decision to do this,” Faris said.
The WBBA includes research institutions, private and public, as well as the supporting industries, such as law, architecture, computing, marketing, supplies, etc. Members include Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Amgen, Zymogenetics, Swedish Medical Center, the University of Washington and dozens of other companies and groups.
The Edmonds Daybreaker Rotary meets each Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. at the Edmonds Yacht Club and visitors are welcome.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
