Gillibrand tours Saranac Lake’s new biotech business

SARANAC LAKE – U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand toured Myriad RBM’s new location here during a three-stop swing through the North Country Friday.

She called the biotech company, which was started by a handful of former employees of Upstate Biotechnology in Lake Placid and has grown to 24 workers, “an amazing success story.” Myriad outgrew its site in Lake Placid and recently relocated to the former Saranac Lake village offices on Main Street, which the village spent more than $700,000 renovating.

“They’re hiring employees,” Gillibrand told the media after the tour. “They’ve taken a business model of developing expertise in biotechnology, which is able to develop more growth because of other biotech businesses in the region. It’s formed a cluster that allows for collaboration and innovation and growth. It’s very exciting for the region.”

Article Photos

U.S. Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, right, talks with an employee of Myriad RBM during a tour of the Saranac Lake biotech business on Friday.
(Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

The senator arrived in front of the building in a red sport-utility vehicle just after 9:30 a.m. She was welcomed by village Mayor Clyde Rabideau, village Trustees Tom Catillaz, Barbara Rice and Paul Van Cott, Harrietstown Councilwoman Nichole Meyette and Laurie Stephen, Myriad’s director of assay development.

Stephen led Gillibrand and the rest, with reporters in tow, on a tour of Myriad’s operations. The company develops and manufactures testing kits for use in biological or medical research, and for companies involved in drug discovery and development.

Gillibrand asked Stephen about Myriad’s plans for growth and expansion, and how it recruits its employees. She also asked Rabideau about the village’s efforts to build a cluster of biotech endeavors here. He explained how another company, Active Motif, plans to locate down the block in the village’s former Water Department building later this year.

“Then we already have Trudeau Institute and Bionique, and that creates a cluster,” Rabideau said. “Before, we were just talking about a vision; now we can show them a cluster right here in downtown Saranac Lake. We have another company in another state we’d like to bring here, and this will help

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