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September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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BioMarin to tap into talent pool with satellite office on Peninsula

NOVATO, May 15, 2008 – Drug maker BioMarin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BMRN) announced today that it will open a satellite office south of San Francisco, which will be its first research and development facility outside of Marin County.

The company said the move is aimed at tapping the rich biotechnology labor pool concentrated in the Peninsula area.

“We are still essentially unable to tap the largest supply of biotechnology labor in the world, which is on the San Francisco Peninsula,” said Mark Wood, vice president of human resources for BioMarin.

Mr. Wood announced the satellite office at a North Bay Leadership Council morning conference focusing on the reasons businesses locate in the North Bay.

BioMarin will keep its Novato headquarters, where it employs about 500 people, and expects to employ up to 50 people on the Peninsula within the next five years, Mr. Wood said.

“It’s not an effort to relocate our headquarters somewhere else,” he said. “We’re here for the long haul in the North Bay.”

BioMarin, which has three drugs on the market and others in development, reported $122 million in net sales in 2007, up 44 percent from $84 million in 2006.

Mr. Wood said BioMarin chose Novato because it was a convenient place for the founders and attracting skilled biotech employees from outside the area has always been a challenge. But the situation has improved as the company has become more successful, he said.

“As business got better we were able to run our location into more of a selling point. We’ve gotten to the point where the good is outweighing the bad,” he said.

Sonoma State University economist Robert Eyler, who issued a report of business location decisions at the conference, said having company headquarters in the North Bay helps boost the local economy more than branch offices.

“The key” to a strong local economy “is having headquarters of high-tech manufacturing and high-tech jobs here in the North Bay,” Dr. Eyler said. “That leads to a huge multiplier effect.”

Also speaking at the conference, commercial real estate broker and Orion Partners chief Bill McCubbin pointed to the growth in the number of video game creators headquartered the North Bay, particularly in southern Marin County.

“They cause an attraction within their own market,” he said.

More details of the conference can be found at www.northbayleadership.org.

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