Delegate Steve Landes Wins “Virginia Bioscience Legislative Leadership Award”

Richmond, VA--- The Virginia Biotechnology Association (VaBIO), today announced that Steve Landes, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Augusta County, won the Virginia Bioscience Legislative Leadership Award for his exemplary efforts on behalf of the biotechnology and medical device industry in the Commonwealth.

“Delegate Landes receiving this award will not surprise anyone who knows Steve or is familiar with his legislative achievements in support of economic development and job creation,” said Mark A. Herzog, executive director of VaBIO. “Our members are generally small start-up companies that are attempting to turn a discovery in a lab into a usable treatment for disease or suffering. These companies face huge challenges and it helps to know that we have a legislator like Delegate Landes who understands the challenges small technology businesses face every day.”

The Virginia Biotechnology Association has only recognized a handful of state legislators with this special distinction.

“The technology industry in Virginia knows that Steve Landes takes the time to understand the complexity of the development process for new drugs or technologies,” continued Herzog. “If it means new, high growth jobs for the community, Delegate Landes always goes above and beyond the call of duty.”

The Virginia Biotechnology Association (VaBIO) is the statewide non-profit organization that promotes the scientific and economic impact of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Approximately 300 biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are based in Virginia, mainly clustered around universities in Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk and Northern Virginia.

According to a recent study by Archstone LLC, the bioscience industry has a profound impact on the state’s economy:
• According to a study in 2006, the bioscience industry supported nearly 80,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Commonwealth.
• The value of the industry’s products and services was approximately $12.6 billion in 2006.
• The biopharmaceutical industry grew by 8.1% between 1996 and 2006.
• The industry paid employees about $1.8 billion in wages in 2006, resulting in $81.6 million in state taxes and $433.3 million in federal taxes.
• Biopharmaceutical employees paid, on average, $4,091 in state taxes, compared to the much more modest $1,501 paid by the average worker.
• In 2008, Virginia’s biomedical researchers conducted nearly 1,900 clinical tests of new medicines, including 678 trials for cancer drugs, 102 tests for heart disease medicines, 232 rare disease treatment trials and 80 tests for HIV/AIDS drugs.

For more information, please visit www.vabio.org.