BioIndustrySouth Fall 2004

QUIZ

What is the estimated cost of the first phase of the new life sciences park to be located next to the Johns Hopkins medical campus in East Baltimore? (a) $84 million (b) $1.6 billion (c) $450 million (d) $112 million

(Scroll down for answer)

ALABAMA

Med Instrument Company Adding 50 Jobs

Doncasters Medical Technologies, a British company, is opening a plant in Arab, Ala., and adding 50 jobs. The company manufactures specialty medical instruments and orthopedic products used in knee, hip and other bone implant surgeries.

Pharmacy Warehouse to Bring 100 Jobs to Jefferson County

St. Louis-based pharmaceutical distributor D&K Healthcare Resources plans to occupy 180,000 square feet of space in an existing building in the Jefferson Metro Industrial Park near Birmingham. The company distributes drugs, over-the-counter medicines and health and beauty products to pharmacies.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas Biosciences Institute Opens

Funded by Arkansas' share of the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act, the Arkansas Biosciences Institute opened the doors to its new 82,000-square-foot facility in Jonesboro. The new research institute, among other things, will center its efforts on bioagriculture's potential in human medicines. Opened in the fall, the center already has 14 faculty members.

Drug Company to Build Facility in Paragould

Smith Drug Company, founded in the 1920s, is building a 100,000-square-foot distribution facility in Paragould, Ark. The company will serve about 800 independent pharmacies throughout the U.S. with pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and other products. About 150 jobs will be created.

UAMS Sets Research Record

In the last fiscal year, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received a record $106 million for research from grants and contracts. Most of the research came from federal projects. UAMS and all of its programs account for about 9,000 jobs in Arkansas.

FLORIDA

Diagnostic Distributor Relocating to Hernando County

S&W Healthcare Corp. has relocated its headquarters from Floral City, Fla. to the Hernando County Airport Industrial Park, located in the northern region of Tampa Bay. The company is an international distributor of diagnostic and monitoring ECG electrode devices manufactured by its parent company in Austria and Italy. The company expects to employ about 30 workers at its 25,000-square-foot distribution facility.

Pharmaceutical Firm Expanding in Hernando County

TG United Labs has purchased an existing building at the Hernando County Airport Industrial Park formerly owned by Omni Healthcare Network. The company manufactures liquid and solid dose medications. TG United officials expect to create about 60 jobs in the deal.

MARYLAND

MedImmune Looking to Expand

Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune, one of the most successful bioindustry companies in the South, is searching sites in Maryland for what could be a $900 million, 1,000-employee manufacturing facility. The company owns a 30-acre site next to its existing manufacturing facility in Frederick. MedImmune moved into its new headquarters in Gaithersburg in March of this year.

BioPort Picks Maryland

Michigan-based BioPort has finally made a decision on where it will locate a 200,000-square-foot anthrax vaccine manufacturing facility. The location for the new plant is in the Interstate 270 tech corridor in Frederick, Md. BioPort officials searched sites in Michigan, Maryland and Virginia for a year before choosing existing buildings in Frederick. Currently BioPort employs about 300 workers and makes an anthrax vaccine, the only one approved by the federal government. The company has not announced how many employees will work at the new facility; however, speculation has it the number will be around 250.

Florida Company Searching for Space on I-270

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals of Boca Raton, Fla., which recently expanded its manufacturing facilities in the Sunshine State, is searching for about 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and R&D space in Maryland's I-270 Corridor in Montgomery County. Publicly traded (Nasdaq: NABI), Nabi has four products on the market and many more in preclinical and clinical testing.

University Seeking $24 Million for Nanotech Research

Officials with the University of Maryland are lobbying state lawmakers for a $24 million investment that could help transform Maryland into a center for nanotechnology research. UM Chancellor William "Brit" Kirwan is seeking $8 million from the Maryland General Assembly for fiscal years' 2006, 2007 and 2008 for the Maryland Nano-Biotechnology Initiative. He claims over $100 million in federal and private-sector funding would also be raised for the initiative over the next five years.

UMB's BioPark Gains Tenant

The University of Maryland Baltimore's new bioscience campus in downtown Baltimore has inked an anchor tenant at one of its six planned buildings. The name of the tenant has not been released as of this writing. BioPark, a planned $200 million bioscience campus developed by UMB is one of two large biotech developments planned for the City of Baltimore. The other is the East Baltimore Biotechnology Park, located next to Johns Hopkins University's medical campus.

Maryland Governor Seeks R&D Tax Credits

Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich is determined to pass pro-business legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session. Ehrlich said passing research and development tax credits as well as bills that will increase investment in private firms is critical in 2005, the year before state elections occur. The 2005 legislative session will be Ehrlich's third as governor.

MISSISSIPPI

BioDerm Sciences Selects Oxford for Corporate HQ

BioDerm Sciences, a spin off of Gaithersburg, Md.-based Health Pathways, announced in November it will locate its corporate headquarters, R&D and manufacturing operations in Oxford, Miss. BioDerm will develop and market dermatologic products in Oxford. The company is expected to create about 50 new jobs over the next three years. The University of Mississippi is located in Oxford and many of the jobs BioDerm is creating are expected to be filled by UM grads.

NORTH CAROLINA

Novo Nordisk Investing $100 Million

Novo Nordisk is expanding its Clayton, N.C. insulin plant by investing $100 million in the facility. The Denmark-based company also plans to add 187 jobs at its insulin plant, most of which will be machine operators and engineering positions.

Greiner Also Investing $100M

Greiner Bio-One is expanding its Monroe, N.C. facility because of a new contract. The medical products manufacturer currently employs 80 in Monroe, however it expects to add over 200 workers in the next two years. The company is adding 30,000 square feet to its facility and is spending $100 million on its expansion.

$300M Merck & Co. Project Approved

Governmental approval has been obtained for Merck & Co.'s plans to expand in northern Durham, N.C. The $300 million project includes a 166,000-square-foot vaccine manufacturing plant and other buildings on 110 acres in Treyburn Corporate Park. Merck is a pharmaceutical maker and will create another 200 jobs in the deal.

Bio Industry Companies Lobbying for Sales Tax Exemption

Biotech companies in North Carolina are lobbying state legislators to eliminate sales taxes on purchases of R&D equipment. The tax exemptions would save companies in the life sciences about seven percent on their equipment purchases.

TENNESSEE

New Lab to be built in Memphis

In November, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved the construction of a $22 million regional biocontainment laboratory at Memphis' UT Health Science Center. The new lab will support research in bio-defense and disease research.

TEXAS

Temple, Tex. Developing Life Sciences Campus

The city of Temple, Tex., has completed its purchase of the former 500,000-square-foot Texas Instruments building. The city, the Temple Economic Development Corp., and the Temple Health and Bioscience Development District have hired Lockwood Greene to perform a feasibility study to determine how the space should be used to develop a life sciences, research and technology campus.

WEST VIRGINIA

WVU Receiving Funding

West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise announced in late November a $24.4 million funding package that will allow West Virginia University to complete a 12-year research expansion plan in as little as half that time. The facilities will enable the university to add 600 new health sciences research positions over the next six to eight years. The funds will help build new labs at the university's Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and new neurosciences laboratories. It will also create research space in the new Health Sciences Library.

QUIZ ANSWER

The first phase of the proposed bio industry park located next to Maryland's Johns Hopkins medical campus is estimated to cost (c) $450 million. The first phase will include over 1 million square feet of lab and office space. Investment in the entire project is expected to total over $1 billion and encompass over 2 million square feet. Johns Hopkins is expected to occupy over 400,000 square feet of that space.