Don’t Mess With Texas’ Biotech Industry

I felt that one statement in “California Fights to Stay Atop the Heap in the Biotech Industry” [Aug. 2] might have left readers with a false impression of the biotechnology industry in Texas.

The California governor’s former trade and commerce secretary, Julie Meier Wright, is quoted as saying, “There is increased competition from everywhere, and from some places that have not a shred of biotech, but want it, like Texas.”

In fact, Texas has a strong life science community, with more than 500 companies generating $6.5 billion in annual sales. In the area of academic research, Texas is home to 55 medical research institutions that invested $890 million in life science research and development in 1996.

Clearly, Texas’ biotechnology industry is a great deal more than a “shred.”

TOM KOWALSKI

President

Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute

Austin, Texas