BioIndustry South News
Fall 2006
Alabama
Biodiesel Company Coming to Athens
The Athens City Council recently approved $1.1 million in tax abatements to attract a $9 million biodiesel firm. The new company, Southeast BioEnergy LLC, plans to build a 4 million gallon per year biodiesel research and development facility.
Florida
Scripps, Pfizer Sign $100M Deal
The Scripps Research Institute has signed a five-year, $100 million deal with world’s largest drug company Pfizer Inc. to develop new therapies for cancer, diabetes, mental illness, and other afflictions. In addition to the $100 million, the deal calls for Pfizer Global Research and Development to pay royalties to Scripps for the drugs that reach the market. Scripps will also receive $20 million a year in unrestricted payments, which can be used for research, to hire scientists, and to purchase lab equipment at Scripps’ facilities in Jupiter, Fla. and La Jolla, Calif.
University of Florida in Top Five in Biotech Transfer and Commercialization
The University of Florida has been ranked among the top five universities in the world in terms of ability to turn research into licensing income and business startups. The ranking was released in a recent report by the nonprofit Milken Institute examining the state of biotechnology research and technology transfer among the world’s leading universities.
Torrey Pines Chooses St. Lucie
St. Lucie County has landed its first biotech organization, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, thanks in part to $56.5 million in local incentives plus a 20-acre site and an additional $25 million expected from the state. Two other Florida communities—Boca Raton and Tallahassee were also in the running for the project. The not-for-profit will occupy 100,000 square-feet and will eventually employ 189.
Georgia
Ethanol Plant Planned for Southwest Georgia
First United Ethanol LLC (FUEL) has raised $67 million in equity to finance an ethanol plant in Mitchell County, Ga. The facility will be on 268 acres between the cities of Camilla and Pelham.
Kansas
OncImmune to Locate North American Headquarters in Kansas City Area
A European-based life sciences company will locate its North American headquarters and commercial lab in Lenexa, a move to bring it closer to leading breast cancer researchers at the University of Kansas. The company OncImmune will develop and commercialize a technology that has detected breast cancer up to four years earlier than a mammogram in initial evaluations. OncImmune will create 120 new jobs in the next four year and will invest $30 million into area lab operations.
New Biotech Incubator Created in Kansas City
The Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City has announced the creation of the Kansas City Biotechnology Center. The Center, a 3,700 square-foot micro-incubator, is designed to house early-stage, rapidly growing companies that develop pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research and diagnostics equipment. The Center’s first tenant, Proteon Therpeutics Inc. said it will consolidate its regional operations at the Biotechnology Center. Proteon is developing a blood vessel-dilating drug for hemodialysis patients.
Maryland
MedImmune Moving Ahead with Expansion
Gaithersburg-based MedImmune is moving forward with its $250 million expansion in Frederick, Md. that represents the first part of a construction project to increase the company’s manufacturing capacity. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in late 2009 and will add about 200 new jobs. MedImmune recently won a five-year, $170 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop cell culture-based flu vaccines, for which the Frederick facility will be the future production site.
Xceleron Expanding in Maryland
United Kingdom-based Xceleron, which had been weighing Maryland and Florida for a new pharmaceutical testing laboratory, will locate the facility in Maryland and hire dozens of more workers. The company, whose technology aims to significantly speed drug development by using ultra-sensitive measuring devices, located its North American operations in Gaithersburg, Md. in 2005. The new testing facility should come online in late 2007.
North Carolina
Three Biotech Firms Sign on at N.C. Research Campus
N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis has signed Pelican Life Sciences as a tenant. The company will establish a research and development center at the campus and will initially have about 10 scientists there. Also, two other biotech firms recently announced decisions to locate at the campus. GlycoMark and Onconix both announced that they would lease space in the first building, which is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in late 2007.
North Carolina Research Campus Doubles Venture Fund in Bid to Attract Biotechs
David Murdock, owner of Dole Food, plans to double to $200 million the amount his venture capital fund will set aside for investments in the work of tenants of his North Carolina Research Campus. Murdock says that he hopes to attract at least 100 biotech companies to the new location.
PharmaCore Expands in Piedmond Triad
PharmaCore, a company that was founded to help pharmaceutical firms explore basic chemical compounds looking for the next breakthrough, is expanding its facility in the Piedmont Triad as it seeks a more advanced role in the process of drug discovery.
Biogen Adds Space and Jobs in Research Triangle Park
Biotech firm Biogen Idec is re-launching its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri and is back in expansion mode in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, where the drug is produced. Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec is currently adding more than 40,000 square feet of space at an office building in Durham. About 200 customer service employees, many of whom moved from the company’s Cambridge, Mass. headquarters, will work at the Durham location.
Novartis May Increase N.C. Presence
While Novartis AG is finalizing plans to build a vaccine plant in Holly Springs, the Swiss drug maker’s Novartis Nutrition Corp. subsidiary is negotiating to build a nutritional products manufacturing plant in Alamance County that would bring hundreds of new jobs. Sources say Novartis Nutrition wants to build a $200 million manufacturing plant with at least 400,000 square feet of space to accommodate its growing pipeline of nutritional products.
Japanese Pharmaceuticals Company Subsidiary Breaks Ground on $90M Expansion in Durham
A U.S. subsidiary of Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. broke ground on a $90 million expansion of its Durham facility, a move that will create 84 new jobs by 2011. The 65,000 square-foot facility will house pharmaceutical production and formulation research and development operations for intravenous oncology treatments. The project is expected to be completed within three years with operations beginning in 2009.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Plans Growth in Sanford
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is fashioning plans to spend $50 million to grow in Lee County as the sales of its vaccine for infant bacterial diseases soars toward the $2 billion per year mark. After being stretched for space, Wyeth Vaccines’ engineers and administrative staff have been moved into more than 150 trailers, so that manufacturing could take over the spaces they occupied.
1,000 Jobs Coming to Durham County
Quintiles Transnational Corp. will expand in Durham County, creating 1,000 new jobs and investing $10.1 million during the next six years. Headquartered in Durham, Quintiles is the world’s largest clinical research organization measured by global revenue. The privately-held company helps drug makers develop and commercialize new medicines. Its core business is conducting clinical trials under contract to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Quintiles already employs more than 1,000 in the Research Triangle region with employees currently working in Durham and Morrisville.
Tennessee
Medtronic to Break Ground on $90M Building
Medtronic Inc. will break ground on a $90 million expansion at its corporate headquarters in Memphis. In the planning stages since 2002, the expansion will lead to the creation of 600 new jobs with an economic impact estimated at $8 billion annually.
NuVasive Opens Memphis Distribution Center
Medical device company NuVasive Inc. has acquired a 100,000 square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Memphis. The Calif.-based company, which develops products for minimally disruptive surgical treatments for the spine, will bring 55 jobs and an investment around $2.5 million. The Memphis facility enhances NuVasive’s efficiency by being located near the FedEx hub.
Virginia
Virginia and Maryland Compete for Biotech HQ
A California Biotech Company’s short list has shrunk to the Washington, D.C. metro area. The Washington suburbs beat out Boston and New Jersey to be the new home to Micromet. The company is evaluating Maryland’s Interstate 270 corridor and Virginia’s Dulles Toll Road area as potential locations.
Janelia Farm Campus Opens in Virginia
After six years of intense planning, construction, and recruiting, the Janelia Farm Research Campus (JFRC), a new scientific community created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute opened in October. The $500 million facility is now home to a group of scientists recruited from some of the world’s leading institutions.
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