While others stall, life science goes on: optimism about the state's future in creating and maintaining biotechnology jobs crosses a broad spectrum of experts.

• Position: Interview

Can biotechnology be the savior of North Carolina jobs? That's the question put to a panel of life-sciences experts assembled by Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC, a Winston-Salem-based law firm: Don deBethizy, CEO of Targacept Inc., a Winston-Salem company developing treatments for central-nervous-system disorders; Jan Turek, CEO of Biolex Therapeutics Inc., a Pittsboro drug maker; Jeff Clark, managing general partner of The Aurora Funds, a Durham venture-capital company; Robert McMahan, Gov. Mike Easley's science adviser; and Sam Taylor, president of the North Carolina Biosciences Organization, a trade group based in Research Triangle Park. The discussion--moderated by Jeff Howland, group leader of Womble Carlyle's corporate and securities practice, and Arthur O. Murray, BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA managing editor for special projects--was held at the firm's RTP office.

What is the state of biomanufacturing in North Carolina?

McMahan: Clearly biomanufacturing is a newer area of emphasis and investment for the state. But it holds great promise because it also is the way in which we can leverage the innovation that we have in our research to the benefit of some of the more traditional manufacturing regions in the state.

Turek: If you look at North Carolina and the industries that exist today, you have Bayer, with the largest biomanufacturing factory for plasma products; you have Wyeth, with one of the largest vaccine-manufacturing facilities in the world; you have Baxter, with an intravenous-solutions factory; you have Novozymes, with large-enzyme manufacturing. So there is a huge infrastructure of large multinational companies here that do biomanufacturing.

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Some of these companies are in places you would not necessarily expect to find them.

Turek: For established technologies, which most of those large companies are, there are benefits to being in communities or in counties that provide economic benefits to build your infrastructure. For companies such as ours, where technologies are a little bit more nascent, it's important to be in areas where you have access to universities as well as scientists.

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deBethizy: You're talking about large-molecule biomanufacturing. Companies like ours, which are working on small molecules, don't look to North Carolina for that capability. Small-molecule manufacturing developed in New Jersey and in Switzerland, for the most part. We have our compound synthesized in Switzerland.

Why not North Carolina?

deBethizy: Nobody wants to build a capital-intensive plant right now. I've talked at length to the CEO of the company that makes our product in Switzerland to get him to build a plant in North Carolina, and he said. 'You know, Don, it would be better for you if I built my next plant in China.' But there is so much momentum that eventually someone will locate a small-molecule plant here.

Is Asia a threat to drug manufacturing?

deBethizy: There's a movement in India, which is changing its patent structure and laws so that people would be more comfortable. But there's still a fear of losing control of our intellectual property. We have a novel molecule at the mid-stage of development. The last thing we want to do is take the risk that you would have somebody manufacturing it in China or in India and start selling it ahead of approval. We would go there for steps along the way but not for the final product.

Turek: While one of the drivers of lowering cost of goods is through labor, the majority of the cost is the huge capital outlay. Building a factory using traditional methods, whether you do it in China or North Carolina, would cost $300 million to $400 million to make one protein. Our technology at Biolex offers the ability to build that same factory for one-quarter or one-third as much. So we're able to have the benefits of low capital without having to go offshore.

Clark: We've done a very good job of bringing in lots of companies with sizable plants, and that world is becoming increasingly competitive. Several of us just got back from the BIO meeting in Chicago, and the exhibit hall is now filled with state after state, country after country extolling the virtues of why you need to build your plant there.

Can North Carolina compete?

Clark: We have a very innovative hub in RTP and a developing hub in Winston-Salem. These are companies that are developing next-generation therapies. They will need initial manufacturing efforts. At the hub, you...