KPLU Local News
(2009-06-29)
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SEATTLE, WA
(KPLU) -
The drug industry in Washington has more than 40 new medicines in clinical trials. Those come from private companies and non-profit research groups. Seattle is one of ten cities nationally where drug companies want to highlight their importance. But even the pharmaceutical industry can't pinpoint exactly how many drugs are invented locally, because so many local biotech companies are subsidiaries of bigger corporate parents. The most prominent is Amgen, which has nearly 1,000 employees in Seattle, but is based in Thousand Oaks, CA.
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Lobbying groups, including PhRMA (which produced a report about the number of drugs in the research pipeline), are calling attention to the jobs and economic benefits they provide in cities such as Seattle, because Congress is considering whether to allow generic versions of biotech drugs, called "bio-similars." That could cut into profits and investment. © Copyright 2012, KPLU
