FDA liaison in Bay Area? Why not, BayBio says

BayBio wants the FDA to base an agency employee in the Bay Area as a liaison to the region’s life sciences community.
That may be easier said than done at a time when government budgets are under intensive scrutiny, but BayBio President Gail Maderis said biotech, diagnostics and device companies and the Food and Drug Administration need to work more closely at a time when the industry-FDA relationship has soured.
Maderis, who hopes to make a case to legislators during a Biotechnology Industry Organization-sponsored meetup with Capitol Hill legislators next week, said there is precedent for federal agencies getting out of the Beltway: The Patent and Trademark Office recently opened a branch in Chicago.