SAN FRANCISCO - As the Biotechnology Industry Organization(BIO) annual conference gets under way here today, two state andfederal government headliners have had to bow out, but another istaking their place, sort of.House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is slated to make anappearance Wednesday via a videotaped interview conducted by BIOPresident Carl Feldbaum and Genentech Inc. Chairman and CEOKirk Raab, who is chairman of the trade organization's board ofdirectors. Raab and Feldbaum questioned the speaker on a range ofgovernment-related topics last Wednesday in his chambers on CapitolHill.U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who's under fire from theU.S. Justice Department for alleged improprieties in his business andpersonal financial dealings, and California Gov. Pete Wilson, who'spreparing to announce his candidacy for the GOP presidentialnomination, were expected to speak at the opening plenary sessiontonight, but were unable to attend.Instead, Mary Good, U.S. undersecretary of commerce fortechnology, and Ann Veneman, California secretary of food andagriculture, are scheduled to participate in the four-day conference.Feldbaum described Good as a "key player" in developing theClinton Administration's biotechnology policy.Veneman, a former U.S. deputy secretary of agriculture duringPresident Bush's administration, advocated simplifying the federalapproval process for genetically altered plants. In California, she hassupported biotechnology as a means of boosting efficiency andproduction in agriculture.BIO's Ninth International Meeting and Exhibition is expected to bethe organization's largest to date, attracting more than 2,000 peopleand representing nearly 700 companies from 20 nations worldwide.Feldbaum said increased interest in the event was generated, in part,by the industry's heated battles in 1994 over national health carereform. The fight this year, with a sympathetic, Republican-controlled Congress, has zeroed in on the FDA. Several sessions willdeal with domestic as well as international regulatory issues.On the business side of biotechnology, Feldbaum noted thatdiscussions on corporate partnering among U.S., European andJapanese companies are on the agenda as well as sessions dealingwith state and local economical development incentives in the U.S."There's increasing interest and increasing competition among statestrying to attract biotechnology businesses," Feldbaum said. "RhodeIsland's trying to get Massachusetts' biotech business and Floridaand Georgia are trying to lure biotech companies to their states."On the science side, gene therapy will be among the most prominenttechnologies examined. Everything from scientific advances tofederal regulations of gene therapy will be explored.A workshop, dubbed a forum for patients, will focus on progress intreatments for diseases, such as leukemia, osteoporosis, cysticfibrosis and AIDS. And in addition to biomedical topics, conferenceparticipants will examine issues related to agricultural biotechnologyas well as look closely at the use of transgenic animals as donors forhuman organ replacement.The discussion on transgenic animals will deal not only with thescience, but also with the ethics of the research. n

-- Charles Craig

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