From the September 20, 2002 print edition

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Pharmaceutical firms being courted by S.A.

Effort part of plan to attract $1.5 billion lab

James Aldridge  

San Antonio leaders are in negotiations to line up commitments from three to four national pharmaceutical companies as part of local efforts to land a proposed $1.5 billion national vaccine center.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff says he has received indications that San Antonio is a finalist in the race for the national vaccine laboratory, competing with Pine Bluff, Ark., and another city in Maryland.

Local leaders are drafting a 33-page proposal to convince the Bush administration to choose San Antonio for the proposed vaccine production facility. The federal government is creating the facility to enhance the nation's response capabilities to potential bioterrorism attacks.

The discussions with the pharmaceutical giants are designed to fill in a gap in the city's proposal, Wolff says. A contingent of national pharmaceutical firms would be needed to manage the government lab.

Wolff says local officials are in negotiations with six of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country to secure support for the Alamo City's bid for the national vaccine lab. He declined to reveal the identities of the six pharmaceutical firms.

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Brooks City Base is one of the sites being eyed for the location of those pharmaceutical firms, Wolff says. Brooks is being marketed as a business and technology park to public and private sector entities.

Wolff says the city's other challenge in gaining the vaccine center is providing the skilled workforce needed to man the facility. He adds that the University of Texas at San Antonio's (UTSA's) new biomedical training facility at Brooks Air Force Base will help fulfill that requirement.

As previously reported in the Business Journal, UTSA and the Air Force Institute for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Risk Assessment at Brooks are teaming up to create the UTSA Center for Excellence in Bioprocessing and Biotechnology.

UTSA officials already have leased 8,000 square feet of space in Brooks Building 175 to house the educational program.

Slated to open by Fall 2003, the joint Air Force/UTSA center will train undergraduate and graduate students both at UTSA and the military to conduct vaccine-related research.

The center will train molecular biologists, fermentation technicians and genetic engineers.

Local contingent

Wolff is part of a who's who of local leaders working together on the vaccine facility, including UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Mayor Ed Garza, former Mayor Henry Cisneros and former Bexar County Judge Cyndi Krier.

"We meet on it about every couple of weeks," he says.

However, the Department of Defense has not yet given guidance on when a decision will be made on how or when the federal government will proceed. "The Department of Defense is not showing its cards," Wolff says.

Debate still rages in Congress on efforts to create and fund a full-fledged Department of Homeland Security with the combined resources of federal agencies to control the border and to respond to biological, chemical and nuclear threats and emergencies. Once that issue has been settled, which may or may not be resolved before Congress adjourns in November, discussions should resume, Wolff says.

Still, the county judge says San Antonio is well-suited to land such a facility because the local community has the available property, a strong military presence, and an extensive academic and scientific research base that make the vaccine lab ideal for the city.

San Antonio is home to Brooks Air Force Base, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, UTSA and the University of Texas Health Science Center. The city also is home to pharmaceutical contract manufacturer DPT Laboratories Ltd. and cancer drug developer Ilex Oncology Inc., which are being enlisted in the effort due to their relationships with the pharmaceutical industry, Wolff says.

"We've got some very good strengths," he says.

Joe Krier, president and CEO of The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, is also backing the local community's efforts to establish the vaccine production center here.

"We've clearly learned from our conversations with the Department of Defense that it is essential to have pharmaceutical partners," Krier says. "I think that is the only piece of the puzzle that's missing."

Following last year's anthrax attacks and the anticipated shortfall of antibiotics, military officials issued a statement at a briefing that said the nation is on the brink of a crisis in terms of vaccine production. Since then, local leaders have been developing a game plan to secure a government-owned, private industry-managed facility to support Homeland Security.

© 2002 American City Business Journals Inc.

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