Attendees of the JPMorgan Healthcare Convention and different pedestrians stroll on Powell Road outdoors the Westin St. Francis resort on Monday in San Francisco. The convention continues till Thursday.
Leah Suzuki/The ChronicleSan Francisco’s Union Sq. was crammed Monday with hundreds of individuals carrying fits as the town grew to become a hub for the well being care and biotechnology industries for the week.
JPMorgan Chase’s forty second annual healthcare convention, billed because the world’s largest, has injected an early-year financial increase into the beleaguered downtown. Many lodges are offered out, with last-minute rooms costing upwards of $1,000 per evening. Greater than 8,000 invitation-only attendees descended on the Westin St. Francis, with hundreds extra arriving for facet occasions. Final yr’s occasion generated an estimated $86 million in financial exercise and $8 million in tax income, based on the San Francisco Journey Affiliation, the town’s tourism board. Final yr was the primary return to in-person convention since 2020, earlier than the pandemic.
“San Francisco and the Bay Space are dynamic and progressive enterprise hubs. That is why we’re thrilled to be internet hosting the convention,” Michael Gaito, international head of healthcare funding banking at JPMorgan, stated in a press release. international and enterprise group in our metropolis.”
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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf are a few of these in attendance on the occasion, which runs via Thursday.
Final yr, Gaiteau praised Mayor London Breed and metropolis workers for a “protected, safe, clear and revitalizing” conference space.
“The Union Sq. space had a stage of legislation enforcement and the presence of ambassadors that offered attendees with a way of security and safety as they toured that space. The town’s public works crew was diligent in cleansing the world all through the evening,” he stated, referring to the orange-vested ambassadors who assist information guests. .
An attendee at a JPMorgan healthcare convention makes use of his cellphone Monday as he and others stand outdoors the Westin St. Francis on Powell Road in San Francisco. Convention attendees say assembly in particular person has worth.
Leah Suzuki/The ChronicleThe largest concern was “value gouging and lack of flexibility” by native lodges, he stated in a letter dated April 2023.
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Attendees instructed The Chronicle this week that the upper prices have not gone wherever, however the networking and robust private connections are value it, even within the age of video conferencing. Additionally they stated the town regarded cleaner and extra crowded than final yr.
“I achieved in a 30-minute assembly what we had been speaking about for 3 months on Zoom,” Sabrina Martucci Johnson, CEO of Daré Bioscience, which focuses on girls’s well being, stated Monday. “It is an efficient approach to talk.”
“It is clearly value the price,” stated Johnson, who has been attending the convention for 22 years. She added that it’s tough to seek out assembly locations because of the growing closure of retail shops and eating places within the downtown space. Johnson stays on the Zeppelin Lodge, and stated attendees need to ebook lodges a yr prematurely, however by doing so that they often pay the excessive “JPMorgan premium” price. Due to the excessive prices, she attends the convention alone with out co-workers.
San Francisco additionally feels safer, stated Johnson, who lives in San Diego.
“The final couple of years I’ve felt much less comfy strolling round by myself,” she stated. “I have been right here since Friday evening…and I can see the distinction. It seems to be nice this yr. It is very clear that the town is absolutely making an effort and is happy with it.”
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“San Diego has a whole lot of mixed-use neighborhoods, together with downtown,” she stated. “I believe it was a little bit harder for San Francisco” popping out of the pandemic.
She stated it might be useful, sooner or later, for San Francisco to assist attendees with logistics reminiscent of restaurant reservations and clarifying which companies are open throughout the convention.
A lot much less rainfall in comparison with final yr’s document storms can be an enormous enchancment, Johnson stated.
Daré Bioscience is engaged on merchandise together with hormone-free contraception, Johnson stated, work that has grow to be extra pressing given the Supreme Court docket’s overturn of Roe v. Wade and new restrictions on abortion throughout the nation.
“Half of all pregnancies are unplanned,” she stated. “Though now we have a whole lot of contraceptive choices… there are not any merchandise which can be proper for everybody.”
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The 532-room Nikko Lodge offered out this week, stated Anna Marie Presutti, the resort’s normal supervisor. In distinction, enterprise remains to be on common 30% decrease than it was earlier than the pandemic.
“It is very costly to do enterprise with San Francisco,” she stated. “Competitors has positively elevated after the pandemic” with different cities. Regardless of the challenges of price and homelessness, JPMorgan’s enterprise has remained regular, she stated.
Attendees on the JPMorgan Healthcare Convention stated San Francisco is a tough metropolis to copy, even when it seems to be “dirtier” than different cities.
Leah Suzuki/The ChronicleBrent Vaughan, CEO of Cognito Therapeutics, stated that regardless of the pandemic and distant work, the Bay Space stays the dominant place for well being care and biotechnology, together with the Boston space, the place his firm is headquartered. Trendy biotechnology was invented in South San Francisco, and stays the middle of gravity for the trade. Enterprise capital stays concentrated in Silicon Valley.
“You’ve got bought the colleges. You’ve got bought the cash. You’ve got bought the concept turbines. You’ve got bought the power to finance them the place there’s extra risk-based capital than wherever else,” stated Vaughan, who lives in Palo Alto. San Francisco, you’ve got quick access to individuals who have introduced merchandise to the FDA, who’ve launched merchandise, and who’ve large-scale industrial manufacturing.”
The largest problem is Breed’s hope that the biotech will broaden into downtown San Francisco to assist alleviate the world’s traditionally excessive workplace emptiness price. South San Francisco already has thousands and thousands of sq. toes of lab area accessible, and UCSF’s Mission Bay is one other sturdy different, Vaughan stated.
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“The town remains to be sort of costly. If you happen to want 80,000 sq. toes with lab area, do not put it within the metropolis. I put it in South San Francisco,” he stated. “It is onerous to construct that sort of high-end R&D and manufacturing area. “
He nonetheless believes San Francisco will proceed to profit from biotech progress as a result of extra individuals will transfer to the town, even when they work within the South.
However biotech and well being care haven’t been spared the mass layoffs and cost-cutting which have hit the remainder of the economic system. Regardless of the decline in fundraising, attendees stated the temper was upbeat to begin 2024.
Some multi-billion greenback offers in late 2023 and the event of applied sciences reminiscent of synthetic intelligence and gene enhancing are producing buzz. Rates of interest is not going to rise, which can profit startups in search of cash.
“Lots of people are feeling the thrill of the construct. It has been a really robust market over a few years,” stated Jacob Becraft, CEO of Strand Therapeutics, an organization specializing in mRNA remedy.
There’s a whole lot of hype round using AI in healthcare — for instance, Nvidia, the key chipmaker whose merchandise assist energy the expertise, will give a presentation this week. However sensible functions are nonetheless of their early phases.
“There’s fairly a little bit of noise that comes with it,” Becraft stated. “There’s a whole lot of hype round what we lastly see the expertise providing,” reminiscent of the opportunity of computational drug discovery.
Becraft felt constructive concerning the metropolis’s cleanliness however stated there was a spot in comparison with the place he lives in Boston.
“I believe San Francisco positively has extra work to do as a metropolis. It is positively rather a lot dirtier than downtown Boston, for instance.” He added that San Francisco was additionally noticeably dirtier just a few months in the past when there wasn’t a significant conference.
“Occasions like this play a vital position in driving our economic system, creating jobs, and including vitality to our metropolis by supporting our small companies, lodges, eating places, nightlife and tourism,” Breed stated in a press release. “We’re seeing extra individuals returning to and round Union Sq. and downtown, due to the town prioritizing investments in public security and financial revitalization, and we’re persevering with to construct on this momentum.”
Bay Space locals agreed the town regarded good.
“It is good to see some extra efforts being made,” stated Wyatt McDonnell, CEO of Infinimmune, which works with human antibodies and is headquartered on Bay Farm Island in Alameda.
Mark Jones, CEO of Altoida, was completely satisfied to see the brand new San Francisco cafes open, regardless of the closure of different retail areas.
“Lots of people are making enjoyable of San Francisco. I’ve to say I used to be pleasantly shocked,” stated Jones, whose firm makes use of machine studying to develop biomarkers for neurological illnesses reminiscent of Alzheimer’s.
Jones lives within the Nashville space, and his firm is headquartered in Washington, DC
“I’ve all the time complained about the price. It is sort of like automotive insurance coverage. You must pay for it,” he stated.
He is staying on the Argonaut Lodge close to Fisherman’s Wharf and searching on the bay, wishing he might lengthen his journey for extra leisure time.
“It is a tough place to copy,” he stated.
Contact Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rolandlisf