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How Would the Bay Area’s Pummeled Economy Get Revived by Biotechnology?

5 mins read

Biotech Industry in the Bay Area Remains Stable Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak spreading worldwide, the Bay Area’s biotech industry remains its stability for the real estate markets and the nation’s economy. Researchers could still go to medical labs while office workers experience a work-from-home setup. The pandemic opened up more opportunities for local medical companies, in contrast to the majority of other business fields sinking due to the global crisis’ severe impacts.

Additional planned investments could stem from fruitful business transactions, according to the latest news reports. Last week, the pharmaceutical company Genentech won local approval for its 15-year expansion plan. The said firm decides to expand its main quarters twice as large to South San Francisco’s school campus. Recently, Genentech’s head center could stretch into the city up to 4.43 million square feet and has around 700 vacant positions.

According to Genentech CEO Alexander Hardy, the company’s primary objective is to think of problem-solving strategies that could help in fighting against COVID-19. Furthermore, Hardy also added that the pandemic brought both opportunities and challenges toward the firm’s plans and actions. Genentech is currently collaborating with Regeneron to create an antibody cocktail. Former U.S. President Trump is one of the said treatment’s volunteer respondents.

In the past three years, companies were already drafting their plans to upgrade or extend their operations. However, one weakness that the biotech industry has is its heavy reliance on in-person resources. Meanwhile, small businesses and proprietors take that as an advantage in catering to large companies’ working employees. 

Additionally, the technology division starts implementing permanent work-from-home regulations toward their workers, potentially increasing the risk of corporations reducing their number of Bay Area laborers. According to California Life Sciences Association board member and Objective Capital Partners investment bank managing director David Crean, many biotech companies prefer to have their headquarters situated near human capitals and in the town’s right spots. Crean also stated that life science mainly requires real estate property to get their research tasks done in private laboratories and facilities.

According to real estate brokerage Cushman and Wakefield, the life-sciences opportunity rate is 8.4% across San Mateo County, the Oakland-Berkeley-Emeryville area, Santa Clara County, and San Francisco. The previously mentioned figure is lower than those municipalities’ offices-vacancy rate, which falls at 10.1%. 

Biotech Companies’ Venture Capital and the Bay Area’s Business Advantages

Wareham Development shareholder Geoffrey Sears revealed to the media that biotech tenants continue to increase in numbers amid the COVID-10 pandemic. For instance, one of Wareham’s laboratory holder is Lucira in Emeryville, the company that became famous for creating test kits before the coronavirus outbreak started. As of late, the said biotech firm built the first at-home coronavirus test kit permitted by the FDA through signing an emergency authorization of approval. Accounting agency Moss Adams’ national practice leader of life sciences Rich Croghan pointed out that a lot of money goes into the biotech industry, further emphasizing that all the companies within that field have their established ecosystems.

The best places for pharmaceutical and biotech companies’ venture capital are Boston and Bay Area. According to the National Venture Capital Association and research agency Pitchbook, the two listed areas earned at least $19.5 billion this year through September within the United States. Additionally, San Diego also has existing clusters of biotech corporations situated across the region.

What resulted in the Bay Area’s popularity is its vast roster of big firms and large-scale laboratory spaces. Additionally, the state houses a flood of Stanford, UCSF, and UC Berkeley’s well-educated alumni and research chances. Croghan confirmed that the Bay Area would stay competitive due to its business-oriented atmosphere and spacious research area.

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