Earlier the month, Biocom California and BizFed Institute held their 2nd annual Greater Los Angeles Life Science Forum to discuss the latest life science industry developments within the Greater Los Angeles region. This conference brought together local business leaders, industry companies, investors, local elected officials and decision makers to help realize the Greater Los Angeles region’s potential to become a global hub for life science innovation. With notable expert speakers featured in the discussions, session topics will include GrowLABio, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Training and Educating the Life Science Workforce, LA County’s Life Science Initiative, and How Cities Can Prioritize and Expedite New Life Science Growth.

The Forum featured several panels and speakers, where presenters examined how public and private sector leaders can better position Los Angeles to support life science jobs; cultivate inclusive industry growth; entice life science companies locate to the Los Angeles region; improve overall industry infrastructure requirements; and accelerate efforts to meet local workforce needs.

CBF’s Executive Director, Patty Cooper, moderated a panel which pinpointed concrete steps that public and private sector leaders can take to spur life science development, including:

• Identifying life science point people within government entities so someone is responsible for working with industry to advance permits, identify lab space, and act as a partner with industry to achieve a successful outcome.
• Partnering with GO-Biz to save money on hiring and training.
• Maximizing existing pots of money such as Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) grants.
• Expanding life science opportunities into universities, community colleges, high schools, and even middle schools.
• Recognizing that it takes a long-term commitment to realize the potential of a growing sector.

The Forum was held a month after Biocom released their 2023 Economic Impact Report which shows that California’s life science industry supports 1.19 million jobs, provided $413.7 billion in economic output, and expanded employment by six percent which outpaced all other industries in California (4.2 percent) as well as the US overall (3.5 percent).

Visit this link for Forum highlights and key takeaways.

FDA grants full approval to new Alzheimer’s drug meant to slow disease

This month, the federal Food and Drug Administration gave full approval for a new Alzheimer’s disease treatment, lecanemab-irmb (under the brand name Leqembi) which was proven to slow the cognitive decline in people with the disease by 27 percent during clinical trials. This is the first traditional approval of an Alzheimer’s treatment that changes the underlying course of the disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is just one of the diseases that causes dementia. It affects 6.7 million people in the United States and is expected to affect 12.7 million people by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. A new report released by the organization confirms over 720,000 Californians currently live with Alzheimer’s disease. That number will increase to 840,000 by the year 2025.

Leqembi works by targeting amyloid beta, the primary component of amyloid plaques, which are a disease-defining hallmark in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Well-conducted clinical trials clearly demonstrate that removing amyloid from the brain provides measurable, meaningful benefit in people with early Alzheimer’s. In a Phase 3 clinical trial, Leqembi delayed cognitive decline by 5.3 months compared to placebo after 18 months of treatment. Further delays in progression are anticipated with extended time under treatment.

Visit the FDA for more information about Leqembi.