California Life Sciences Association Becomes Largest U.S. Statewide Life Sciences Advocacy Group

It’s official. The California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) now is the nation’s largest statewide life sciences advocacy organization.

Born of a merger between BayBio and the California Healthcare Institute, CLSA boasts more than 750 members. The organization is tasked with advancing the Golden State’s life sciences innovation ecosystem by advocating for effective national, state and local public policies and supporting entrepreneurs and life sciences businesses.

“Our industry is at the cusp of improving global healthcare, but without supportive public policy, the potential of new innovations to transform health and life will not be realized,” said Rick Winningham, CLSA chairman and chairman/CEO of Theravance Biopharma, a South San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical firm. “Through CLSA, we have created the strongest possible organization, advocating for policies that support innovation and enable the success of our member organizations, as well as the growth of the life sciences sector within California.”

With offices in San Diego, South San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., CLSA serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors, and service providers.

“Our top priority is the well-being of people everywhere,” said Sara Radcliffe, president/CEO of CLSA. “Our society depends on advancements in science and technology to create a greater quality of life through transformative innovation. CLSA is committed to providing one robust, unified voice for California’s life sciences sector, which works tirelessly to drive advances that will benefit patients and consumers in the U.S. and around the world for many years to come.”

The move to combine BayBio and the California Healthcare Institute was set in motion in early 2014, when CEO David Gollaher resigned from the San Diego-based California Healthcare Institute. Gollaher’s departure from the public policy group he co-founded in 1993 created an opening to assess whether it made sense to merge CHI with BayBio, the life sciences industry group based in South San Francisco, according to OncoMed Pharmaceuticals chairman and CEO Paul Hastings, who was on the boards of both CHI and BayBio.

“We’ve been hearing from our members for some time that in order for us to be competitive that we need to speak with one voice,” Hastings said last December. “The way one should run a trade organization is to understand what its membership needs are.”

The CLSA quickly flexed its organizational muscle by launching the California Life Sciences Institute (CLSI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit partner focused on fostering Golden State life science innovation. CLSI programs are strategically focused in the three vital areas:

• Entrepreneurship—Connecting life sciences entrepreneurs to essential capital and resources;
• Education—Bringing together industry and academia to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education; and
• Careers—Exposing students to career pathways and opportunities, connecting employers with talent, and providing ongoing professional development.

“CLSI is building a stronger life sciences sector for the future by supporting its students, employees and entrepreneurs today,” said Lori Lindburg, executive director of CLSI. “For our industry to continue as an economic engine for California, we must continue to invest in and support the next generation of innovators by building and scaling a framework for life sciences education, entrepreneurship and career development.”