JPMorgan Healthcare Conference attendees and other pedestrians walk on Powell Street in front of the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Monday in San Francisco. The conference runs until Thursday.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
San Francisco's Union Square was filled with thousands of people in suits on Monday as the city became the epicenter of the health care and biotechnology industries for a week.
JPMorgan Chase's 42nd annual healthcare conference, considered the largest in the world, has already provided an economic boost to the beleaguered downtown area earlier this year. Many hotels were fully booked and last-minute rooms cost more than $1,000 a night. Over 8,000 invitation-only attendees came to the Westin St. Francis Hotel, with thousands more attending side events. Last year's event generated an estimated $86 million in economic activity and $8 million in tax revenue, according to the San Francisco Travel Association, the city's tourism association. Last year, the in-person conference took place again for the first time since 2020, i.e. before the pandemic.
“San Francisco and the Bay Area are dynamic and innovative business hubs. That’s why we’re thrilled to host,” Michael Gaito, global head of healthcare investment banking at JPMorgan, said in a statement. “We are excited to be back and welcoming the global healthcare industry and business community to our city.”
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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf are among those attending the event, which runs through Thursday.
Last year, Gaito praised Mayor London Breed and city staff for a “safe, clean and activated” conference area.
“There was a high level of law enforcement and ambassadorial presence in the Union Square area, which provided our participants with a sense of security while moving in this area. “The city’s public works team worked diligently cleaning the area overnight,” he wrote, referring to the orange-robed ambassadors helping guide visitors.
A JPMorgan Healthcare Conference attendee uses his phone as he and others stand outside the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Powell Street in San Francisco on Monday. Conference participants say it is valuable to meet in person.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
The biggest concern is “price gouging and lack of flexibility” from local hotels, he said in an April 2023 letter.
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Participants told the Chronicle this week that while the high costs haven't gone away, the robust personal networks and connections are worth it, even in the age of videoconferencing. They also said the city felt cleaner and more crowded with visitors than last year.
On Monday, in a 30-minute meeting, “I accomplished what we've been talking about for three months on Zoom,” said Sabrina Martucci Johnson, CEO of Daré Bioscience, which focuses on women's health. “It’s such an efficient way to socialize.”
“It’s clearly worth the price,” said Johnson, who has been attending for 22 years. But with downtown retail stores and restaurants increasingly closing, it's harder to find meeting places, she said. Staying at the Hotel Zeppelin, Johnson said participants had to book their hotels a year in advance, but typically had to pay high “JPMorgan premium” costs to do so. Due to the high costs, she takes part in the conference alone and without colleagues.
Johnson, who lives in San Diego, said San Francisco also feels safer.
“Over the last few years, I've felt less comfortable walking around alone,” she said. “I've been here since Friday night… and I can see the difference. Things are looking great this year. It’s clear that the city is really making an effort and is proud of it.”
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“San Diego has a lot of mixed-use neighborhoods, including downtown,” she said. “I think it’s been a little more difficult for San Francisco” to get through the pandemic.
She said it would be helpful in the future if San Francisco helped attendees with logistics like booking restaurants and indicating which stores would be open during the conference.
Significantly less rain compared to last year's record storms is also a big improvement, Johnson said.
Daré Bioscience is working on products including hormone-free contraceptives, work that continues in light of the overturning of the Roe v. Wade has become even more urgent with the Supreme Court and new abortion restrictions across the country, Johnson said.
“Half of pregnancies are unplanned,” she said. “Even though there is a wide variety of contraceptives available…there are still not products for everyone.”
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The 532-room Hotel Nikko was sold out this week, said Anna Marie Presutti, the general manager. In contrast, business is still averaging 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“Doing business with San Francisco is very expensive,” she said. “Competition has definitely increased post-pandemic” with other cities. But despite the cost and homelessness problems, JPMorgan's business has remained stable, she said.
Attendees at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference said San Francisco is a difficult city to replicate, even if it feels “dirtier” than other cities.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
Brent Vaughan, CEO of Cognito Therapeutics, said that despite the pandemic and remote work, the Bay Area remains the dominant location for healthcare and biotech alongside the Boston area, where his company is headquartered. Modern biotechnology was invented in South San Francisco and is still the linchpin of the industry. Venture capital continues to focus on Silicon Valley.
“You have the schools. You have the money. You have the ideas. “You have the opportunity to fund them where there is more risk-based capital than anywhere else,” said Vaughan, who lives in Palo Alto. “In addition, with South San Francisco you have direct access to people who have brought products to the FDA, who have brought products to market and who are doing large-scale commercial manufacturing.”
A bigger challenge is Breed's hope that Biotech will expand into downtown San Francisco to help reduce the area's historically high office vacancy rate. South San Francisco already has millions of square feet of available lab space, and UCSF-anchored Mission Bay is another strong alternative, Vaughan said.
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“The city is still quite expensive. If you need 80,000 square feet of lab space, you shouldn't put it in the city. “They dropped it off in South San Francisco,” he said. “It is difficult to create such sophisticated R&D and production spaces.”
He remains convinced that San Francisco will continue to benefit from the growth of biotechnology as more people move to the city, even if they work in the South.
But the biotech and healthcare industries were not spared from the mass layoffs and cost-cutting that hit the rest of the economy. Despite this, and despite a dip in fundraising, participants said the mood heading into 2024 was optimistic.
A few billion-dollar deals at the end of 2023 and the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and gene editing are causing a stir. Interest rates are not rising, which will benefit startups looking for cash.
“A lot of people feel the excitement surrounding the construction. “It's been two years of a really tough market,” said Jacob Becraft, CEO of Strand Therapeutics, an mRNA therapy company.
There's a lot of hype surrounding the use of AI in healthcare – for example, Nvidia, the major chipmaker whose products drive the technology, is making a presentation this week. But practical application is still in its infancy.
“There is an excessive amount of noise associated with it,” Becraft said. “There is a lot of excitement about what the technology will finally bring,” such as the potential for computer-aided drug discovery.
Becraft was positive about the city's cleanliness, but said there was a gap compared to where he lived in Boston.
“I think San Francisco as a city certainly has more work to do. It’s definitely a lot dirtier than, say, downtown Boston,” he said. San Francisco was also noticeably dirtier a few months ago, when there was no major conference, he added.
“Events like this play a critical role in driving our economy, creating jobs and adding vibrancy to our city by supporting our small businesses, hotels, restaurants, nightlife and tourism,” Breed said in a statement. “Thanks to the city prioritizing investments in public safety and economic activation, we are seeing more people return to and around Union Square and Downtown, and we continue to build on that momentum.”
Bay Area locals agreed the city looked good.
“It was nice to see some extra effort being made,” said Wyatt McDonnell, CEO of Infinimmune, which works with human antibodies and is headquartered on Bay Farm Island in Alameda.
Altoida CEO Marc Jones was happy to see new cafes opening in San Francisco even as other retail spaces were boarded up.
“A lot of people make fun of San Francisco. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised,” said Jones, whose company uses machine learning to develop biomarkers for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Jones lives in the Nashville area and his company is headquartered in Washington, DC
“I always complained about the cost. It's a bit like car insurance. “You have to pay for it,” he said.
He stays at the Argonaut Hotel near Fisherman's Wharf and looks out over the bay. He wished he had extended his trip to have more free time.
“It’s hard to repeat,” he said.
Reach Roland Li: [email protected]; Twitter: @rolandlisf