California Biotechnology Companies Worry About California Special Election

California Biotchnology companies worry about the impact of the California Special Election Propositions 78 and 79 on their business prospects. The San Francisco Business Times has this piece, Biotechs worry about ballot’s side effects.

Biotechnology executives are worried about unwanted side effects from what’s expected to be an $80 million campaign the pharmaceutical industry is readying over competing initiatives on California’s November ballot.

Pharmaceutical companies have raised more than $54 million, with Pfizer, Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline each contributing $9.8 million. But with the exception of $4.6 million from Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. and a handful of smaller donations, biotechs are staying on the sidelines.

This is understandable.

Why should emerging technology companies who constantly battle these major pharmaceutical companies for their very lives (fight off take-overs and hostile recruitment of employees and management) put themselves out there to be beat up in the public arena?

Several executives expressed fear that joining with big pharma’s campaign will put them in the middle of a potentially ugly fight with a heavy-handed partner — one not interested in reaching a political compromise but looking to do whatever it takes to defeat its opponents.

The sheer size of the campaign led by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, is unfathomable to many biotechnology executives. The planned $80 million expenditure would be enough to fund the entire operations of PhRMA’s counterpart, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, for two years.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization has not taken a position on either proposition. BayBio, the Bay Area’s biotechnology association, has not taken a position on the ballot measures. It previously supported legislation with language identical to Prop. 78.

Though it’s likely the biotechnology industry will be forced to take a stand on the ballot measures by the fall, it is unclear how active a role it will take in the campaign.

Some executives are holding out hope that a compromise can be reached for a legislative solution that will spare them from being thrown into a bruising battle.

The legislature is on recess and the capital is abuzz with deal rumors.

PhRMA looks well financed for a fight. And…. biotechnology will join by Labor Day.

Stay tuned.

Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page