Project to grow biotech cluster pays off
When Amgen announced hundreds of layoffs at its Thousand Oaks headquarters in 2007, Ventura County’s movers and shakers came together in an effort to transform the blow into an opportunity to foster a biotechnology cluster along the Highway 101 corridor — and they now have a tangible deal to show for it.
Camarillo startup PBS Biotech has received a $250,000 loan from the Economic Development Collaborative-Ventura County, assisted by the city of Camarillo and the county of Ventura. Leaders from the 3-year-old firm linked up with economic development officials after meeting at an event held by The Biotech Forum, an organization founded to help biotech startups network and prevent talented former Amgen workers from leaving the region.
PBS has eight employees, three of whom used to work at Amgen. The company is developing a disposable bioreactor, the apparatus used by biotech companies to grow the cells from which they glean their drugs.
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