New Directory to Assist Lobbyists in Gathering Support for the Industry

The state’s biomedical industry wants to do a better job of explaining itself.

In recent weeks, industry lobbyists have sent state and federal lawmakers hundreds of copies of a new directory of California companies and research institutions that develop and sell drugs, devices and other medical items.

“When we meet with political leaders and elected officials, they say, ‘How many companies are you talking about that are in my district?’ ” said David L. Gollaher, president and chief executive of La Jolla-based California Healthcare Institute, the industry lobbying group that compiled the directory.

Lobbyists will thump the directory this year as they press legislators to support funding for research, education and financing policies aimed at assisting the industry.

The 400-page guide, called the California Biomedical Resource Directory, begins with a boosterish foreword by Gov. Pete Wilson that lauds the industry for helping to launch the “California Comeback” from the economic depression of a few years ago. It lists 2,000 organizations, including 75 academic and nonprofit research institutions.

Thus far, the trade group has distributed 1,300 directories, many of them for free. It sells them to members for $95 apiece and to nonmembers for $165.

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Barbara Marsh can be reached via e-mail at barbara.marsh@latimes.com