February 15, 2008

BioCenter Success

By Councilmember Forrest Williams
Special to the Times

In 2001 the San Jose City Council approved the creation of a life sciences incubator in the Edenvale Technology Park located in District 2. The San Jose BioCenter is a state-of-the-art life sciences business incubator and laboratory facility.

Sponsored by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency and operated by the San Jose State University Research Foundation, the BioCenter gives emerging companies that “big company advantage” by providing them with the specialized facilities, research equipment, laboratory support services and business programs they need to commercialize their technology.

This is a one of a kind facility and is internationally recognized for its success and innovation. One of the latest and most profound successes is exemplified by the recent deal between Tacere Therapeutics, Inc. and Pfizer. Tacere Therapeutics, Inc., a RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics developer and a resident company of the San Jose BioCenter, has teamed up with Pfizer Inc. to develop and commercialize its Hepatitis C virus (HCV) compound, TT-033.  Tacere will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, milestone payments and funding for all future work with the drug; a deal value totaling over $145M.  Upon commercialization of TT-033, Tacere will be entitled to receive royalties on net sales by Pfizer. Under the deal, Pfizer will fund and support Tacere’s ongoing pre-clinical development at the San Jose BioCenter to file an investigational new drug application (IND) within the next 15 to 18 months. After this achievement, the joint steering committee between Tacere and Pfizer will coordinate and manage clinical development of the drug.

Tacere is one of 25 companies resident at the BioCenter and represents the caliber of talent and the impact that these specialized facilities, equipment and services have on these great companies. Over the past 12 years, start-up companies in San Jose’s SBC, EBC, IBI, and SJBC have collectively received over $1.4 billion dollars in venture capital investment. And since its opening in 2004, San Jose BioCenter companies have generated approximately $425 million in venture capital investment. We can certainly consider the City of San Jose’s initial investment in incubators has had an overwhelming success not only for the City but also for the region. Our commitment has positively affected the number of jobs and economic growth, not only locally but also globally. Even during this time of economic recession San Jose continues to lead the nation in innovation and productivity.

It is comforting to know that some of the world’s best facilities for innovation are located in our city. San Jose is most definitely in a league of its own and consistently demonstrates its level of achievement because of the hard work of creators and innovators. I congratulate them on their success and thank them for choosing San Jose!
Ways to Contact Councilmember Williams

If you have something that you would like brought to my attention, or something that you would like to discuss with me, we can meet together in several ways:

Office Hours/Mobile Office Hours: The Office Hours for the months of February are as follows: Saturday, February 16th, 2007 from 10am 12 noon at the Edenvale Branch Library and Thursday, February 28th, 2007 from 3:00- 5:00 pm at the Southside Community and Senior Center.

My Mobile Office Hours will begin at 1pm on Saturday, February 23rd at Glider Elementary School and will continue throughout the surrounding neighborhood.

If you would like to know where I will be walking in future months, please refer to the District Two Web site at www.sanjoseca.gov/district2 and click on the “Mobile Office Hours Schedule” link.

Contact Information: As always, you can reach me by calling my office at (408) 535-4902 or by e-mailing me at forrest.williams@sanjoseca.gov. You can also visit the District Two Web site for more information: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/district2.