BIO 2016 in San Francisco Draws Industry Leaders from Across the Globe

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After a dozen years, San Francisco, California, was once again the host of the Biotechnology Industry Organization's (BIO) Annual International Convention. Centered at the Moscone Center June 6-9, the BIO 2016 annual conference featured focused discussions on the industry's latest innovative efforts to develop, treat and eventually cure an array of ailments.

The estimated 15,000-plus attendees, including government officials, research scientists, and chief executive officers from around the world, came together for a week of intensive networking and partnering meetings to discover new opportunities and promising partnerships. The 160,000-plus square-foot BIO Exhibition was the world's largest biotechnology and pharma gathering of the year, featuring more than 1,800 exhibitors including 55 regional and international pavilions and eight specialized product focus zones.

The city threw its arms open to BIO 2016, welcoming the visitors and the influx of millions of dollars into the area's economy. That is a far different scene than that which greeted them in 2004, when the city faced a concerted effort by a coalition of activists to shut down the four-day conference. Corporate greed, disenfranchisement, fetal cell study opposition, and even that week's G8 summit conference in Sea Island, Georgia, were all listed among the reasons for opposition to the conference.

But, like everything else, times change, and today, the importance of the biopharma industry cannot be denied. According to a recent report prepared by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the biopharma industry generated more than $1.2 trillion within the U.S. economy in 2014. The industry also employed over 850,000 direct jobs and another 3.5 million ancillary positions.

The biopharmaceutical sector's economic output, which represents the value of the goods and services produced by the sector, totaled more than $558 billion in the United States in 2014. The sector also supported another $659 billion through its vendors and suppliers and through the economic activity of its workforce, for a total of $1.2 trillion.

Those employed in jobs supported by the biopharmaceutical sector were paid a total of nearly $311 billion in wages and benefits in 2014. Those employed in direct biopharmaceutical sector jobs earn an average salary of $123,108, more than twice the average $57,149 annual salary for all other U.S. jobs.

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