By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

CHICAGO — Florida's biotech industry is thriving, although the wisdom of the state's $1.5 billion bet on research labs remains unclear, a prominent industry expert said today.

Battelle, an independent research firm based in Cleveland, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization kicked off the annual BIO conference in Chicago with a report showing that the biotech industry has flourished even as the economy has struggled.

Biotech employment in Florida rose 18 percent from 2001 to 2008, the report said, while the state's total private-sector jobs grew by only 7 percent. Battelle counted positions in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and research.

Battelle Vice President Mitch Horowitz called the job growth a promising sign. What's more, biotech jobs pay well -- an average of $55,264 a year in Florida, well above the typical private-sector pay of $39,596.

But Horowitz also warned it'll take years for Florida's billion-dollar bet on such labs as Scripps Florida and Max Planck Florida to pay off.

"The jury on the big investments is still out, which is fine," Horowitz said. "Biotech is a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to take a long time."

Horowitz wondered whether elected officials will have the patience to wait for results. And with nearly every state in the nation and nearly every nation in the developed world wooing scientists and biotech entrepreneurs, he said it won't be enough for Palm Beach County simply to mimic biotech hubs like San Diego and Boston.

Horowitz said the region must offer such support as wet-lab incubators for start-up companies. And he suggested that Florida try to carve out a niche in the life sciences. Horowitz said Memphis, Tenn., for example, has built a biotech industry by focusing on medical devices and the shipping and distribution of drugs and devices.

Florida trails biotech leaders California and Massachusetts in many measures, but it has shown promise in some areas. How Florida ranked in a variety of indicators:

No. 4 among the 50 states in clinical trials in 2009 with 895.

No. 6 in bioscience jobs in 2008 with 27,960.

No. 6 in bioscience college degrees in 2008 with 6,886.

No. 8 in bioscience patents 2004-09 with 3,141.

No. 11 in research and development spending in 2008 with $902 million.

No. 14 in bioscience venture capital 2004-09 with $810 million.

No. 17 in National Institutes of Health grants in 2009 with $466 million.

Spurred by then-Gov. Jeb Bush's courting of The Scripps Research Institute, Florida taxpayers have invested $1.55 billion in biotech institutes, including Scripps Florida and Max Planck Florida in Jupiter and VGTI Florida and the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St. Lucie.

Yet the high-paying research jobs politicians hoped to reap have yet to materialize, according to a January study by the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability.

jeff_ostrowski@pbpost.com