Fourth in a five-day series. I asked seven of the top biotech leaders in the city to name the three colleagues who they thought were the most influential players in the industry here. This week, I'll showcase the names that came up most often.

Please e-mail me your own selections at joetartakoff@seattlepi.com. I'll showcase those on Friday.

Trubion. VentiRX. Calistoga. ZymoGenetics.

All biotech firms with major Seattle operations that are either backed or have been backed by Frazier Healthcare Ventures.

Alan Frazier

Founded by managing partner Alan Frazier, the venture capital firm has raised $1.8 billion and has invested the funds in more than 100 life science companies (the company also makes large investments in medical device companies -- in Seattle, Calypso, Cardiac Dimensions, and Seattle Medical).

Last November, Frazier Healthcare raised a $600 million fund -- its largest ever and the venture firm has indicated it will now be able to make bigger investments in firms already generating revenue.

Peter Thompson, the CEO of Trubion Pharmaceuticals, which Frazier Healthcare helped establish in 2002, calls Frazier one of "the architects of the Seattle biotech scene."

Still, Frazier Healthcare is arguably more influential outside of the region. The company also has an office in Palo Alto, Calif. A chart on its Web site shows that the firm has 11 companies in its portfolio based near Seattle, compared with 36 near Palo Alto.

But Frazier's influence here is deep. A University of Washington graduate, Frazier joined Seattle's Immunex in 1983 as the company's chief financial officer and served in that post until he left to start Frazier Healthcare in 1991.

Says Thompson:

Alan Frazier has played, and continues to play, a major role in the growth of the biotech industry in the Puget Sound region ...

Alan also plays a prominent role in supporting scientific institutions in the area as well as shepherding the development of technology and relationships that can forge stronger, synergistic ties between the local biotech industry and academia now and going forward.