Seattle Times reports that city's biotech sector may ride out recession

SEATTLE The biotechnology in the Pacific Northwest's largest city may ride out the recession this year, according to published reports.

The Seattle Times reported Sunday that while small, publicly traded companies could go out of business, the small startups that focus on research on one end and the larger companies on the other could expand.

Last month, for example, Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk announced that it had entered a deal with Seattle-based VLST Corp. to develop treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune disorders using VLST's biotechnology platform, garnering an upfront payment of $12 million for VLST.