Those interested in furthering Long Island’s biotech industry have faced many challenges over the years. Diane Fabel of the Stony Brook Center for Biotechnology describes some of the bigger ones in the 1990s, both cultural and political: “Biotech was early stage. It was only established in 1976, I think. We were right up there at the front, so there wasn’t a long history. People didn’t know about it. They didn’t understand how long it would take to bring science to a point where it could be commercialized. Political timelines are short, and biotech is long and capital intensive. It’s often been difficult to make the case for why biotech when it doesn’t fit neatly into an election term, so to speak. Where are the jobs? Where’s the capital investment? It’s spread over 30 years. That’s the problem.”
