SAN DIEGO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ — The Hybritech Reunion Committee today announced the 30th Anniversary Reunion for Hybritech employees will take place on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at the headquarters of AMN Healthcare in San Diego.
In September 1978 Hybritech, San Diego’s “Granddaddy” biotech company, began operations in temporary trailers located in the parking lot of the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (now the renowned Burnham Institute). The company quickly produced the world’s first commercially manufactured monoclonal antibody product, and soon thereafter, a series of diagnostic kits for allergy, pregnancy, anemia and certain forms of cancer. The company was also instrumental in the earliest investigations of in vivo and therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
By 1985, Hybritech had developed its “Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)” product, the first monoclonal antibody test for prostate cancer. The blood test soon became the standard method for physicians to diagnose and monitor prostate cancer patients, the second biggest cancer killer among American men.
In 1986, the pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly paid $450 million in cash and warrants to buy Hybritech — at that point the largest M&A in San Diego history. The company’s early success — and the visibility it created among its founders and employees — spurred other academic scientists and entrepreneurs to form dozens of additional life sciences companies in San Diego.
Hybritech’s original founders and employees have gone on to found more than 175 of the several hundred life science companies now located in San Diego county — and comprising the San Diego life sciences “technology cluster”.
“This event is a milestone celebration of all the tremendous things that came from the genesis of this small company 30 years ago. Who would have foreseen how significant the impact of one company could be on our community’s economy and its reputation as a leading area of biotech research and scientific development? I am very proud to have led this brilliant, dedicated and innovative group of individuals,” said Ted Greene, chief executive of Hybritech until the Lilly acquisition.
“There are several hundred Hybritech alumni who continue to live and work here in San Diego who plan to attend the reunion. We also have former employees planning to attend who currently live across the United States and in Europe — and who are returning to San Diego for the event. These Hybritech alumni rank among the earliest founders of San Diego’s now vibrant biotech and life sciences ‘technology cluster’. Many people, even former employees, are surprised to learn that the Hybritech success has become a point of study among academic and governmental investigators who want to understand how ‘technology clusters’ are successfully created and sustained,” said Cole Owen, a member of the Hybritech Reunion Committee.
The Hybritech 30th Anniversary Reunion (for former Hybritech employees only) will be held at the AMN Healthcare facility in San Diego, on Saturday, September 13, 2008, beginning at 3 PM. The host for the Reunion is AMN’s President and CEO, Susan Nowakowski, herself a Hybritech alumnus.
Further registration information is available online at http://www.hybritech.org/ for former Hybritech employees and media.
The Hybritech Reunion is a non profit corporation dedicated to preserving the legacy of Hybritech.
Hybritech Reunion Committee
CONTACT: Guy Iannuzzi of Mentus Life Science, +1-858-455-5500,[email protected], for Hybritech Reunion Committee
Web site: http://www.hybritech.org/
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