Alan Dayton, acting Salt Lake County mayor, said he was "astounded" at the $330 million direct economic impact of the biopharm industry in Utah during 2003, but he was more impressed with various multiplier effects on the economy.

"Salt Lake County has a role in economic development, and I'd like to speak on behalf of all of government that our role is either to speed up or get out of the way," Dayton said. "We have an obligation to help create an environment where businesses can thrive and grow."

Moss noted that pharmaceutical companies, their development and growth has led to some negative publicity.

"It's very important that we all understand both sides of the story, and this is the other side of the story: great jobs, great employment, great opportunity, great products. And it's important that whatever we do in the political spectrum, we don't cut off that opportunity to grow and develop the new products which are the lifesaving products of tomorrow," he said.

"We're just at the beginning edge of what can happen in our science and our development and our great universities, and it's important that we keep that engine of growth going, no matter what we do in the rest of the pharma discussion. We've got to keep that growth engine going."

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Contributing: Lois Collins E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com