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State of biotech

Biotech shaky but still growing

 The Bay Area biomedical industry gained 539 jobs year-over-year — a 1 percent increase — but other regions of California grew their biomedical workforces at a faster pace, according to a report from the California Healthcare Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Los Angeles employment was 45,064 — a 2.1 percent rise — and San Diego’s workforce climbed 2.5 percent to 24,123. Orange County registered 30,386 biomedical jobs, a 1.1 percent increase.

“While the biomedical industry has weathered the recession, it faces unprecedented challenges — access to capital, the educational funding crisis and uncertainty surrounding health care reform,” California Healthcare Institute President and CEO David Gollaher said in a press release.