Horrific Events: Our Biotech Opportunity? (Guest Commentary)

A presentation at the Arkansas Biotechnology Association conference last fall brought to my attention the possibility of Arkansas securing a major biotech enterprise, namely the more than $1.2 billion national vaccine production facility that could be beneficially located at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The national response to the terror of Sept. 11, the subsequent establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, and the widespread and growing concern for current U.S. vaccine stocks and production capabilities all make this facility of immediate and vital national importance.

So why would this facility be a big deal for Arkansas? Here’s the short list:

• The Pine Bluff Arsenal is one of only a few favorable locations in the U.S., and it is one that is comparatively underutilized. When something is mentioned about the arsenal, it usually has a negative cast. Vaccines would promote a considerably more positive and high-tech image for the state.

• We have talked for years about a biotech corridor with Pine Bluff at the southern end, extending through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and perhaps beyond. Nothing much has happened for lack of a major anchoring enterprise such as the vaccine production facility.

• There is a lot of money on the table — about $1.2 billion — and it is tied to a technology-centered enterprise the likes of which are nearly absent in Arkansas.

• There would be a direct hire of about 160 with a multiplier of 1.5 to 2, and that is nothing to sneeze at. The vaccine facility would mean employment opportunities for more university graduates and would help reduce our long-standing brain-drain problem.

• Jobs created would be more substantial than the $10 per hour jobs being sought in our usual economic development activities. The top facility management job will probably command a salary of about $200,000.

• Local beneficiaries would include the Jefferson/Pine Bluff area, an area that could clearly use the economic benefits that the facility would provide. It could also be very important for UAMS.

While I understand that the arsenal has already been designated to become a secure storage site and distribution point for emergency response vaccines, we must be realistic about the job before us if we are to secure the vaccine production facility. San Antonio is likely to end up in the cut to the final candidate locations, and officials there are already aggressively focusing on biotech development.

Being just another tag-along seeker would not only be less likely to be successful, it would perpetuate Arkansas’ proclivity for belated responses. Doing it right this time could establish a precedent for more thoughtful efforts to promote enterprise developments with long-term potential.

As far as I can tell, we still have a real chance for this one. There are not hundreds of equally suitable competitive locations. The odds are such that the cost of a full-court press would seem more acceptable than pursuit of a wiring-harness plant.

Who wants to wake up one morning in 2003 and read that San Antonio or Fort Detrick has secured this facility? That would not be just the loss of another manufacturing plant; it would represent a failure to capture an opportunity to jump start a significant biotech industry for our state.

An Arkansas effort to site the vaccine production facility here must be organized quickly. It must have strong leadership and broad support. But who will lead? The state’s primary economic development agency (the Arkansas Department of Economic Development) is reportedly not interested, so the initiative will probably have to come from and have the active participation of our Congressional delegation. Our highest state officials and legislators, our Congressional delegation, and influential public and private sector advocates should come together in an immediate, vigorous and proactive response to this opportunity.

We cannot meet the competition by waiting for the formal request for proposals scheduled to be issued in October or November. We will have no chance if we wait!

R.R. Goforth, Ph.D., is general manager of Beta-Rubicon Inc. in Fayetteville, which may be reached on the Web at www.beta-rubicon.com