Fall 2007

ALABAMA

New HudsonAlpha Biotechnology Institute Attracts 12 Tenants

The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, in Huntsville, Ala., said it has signed up 12 companies to occupy the recently completed first section of the institute’s new building. Construction of the remainder of the facility–an atrium and researcher’s wing––is expected to be completed early next year. The new tenants are: Antarus Biotech, Applied Genomics, CFD Research, Conversant Healthcare Systems, Expression Genetics, ExtremoZyme, Microarrays, New Century Pharmaceuticals, Open Biosystems, Serina Therapeutics, SourceCF, and Thergnostix References Laboratories.

Alabama Firm in Deal with India-based Drug Company

One of India’s big pharmaceutical companies, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd., has agreed to have Birmingham, Ala.-based American Health Research Institute, Inc. distribute its products in the U.S., and said it might consider building a production facility in Alabama.

Genaco Biomedical Runner-Up in Awards Competition

A testing system developed by Huntsville, Ala.-based Genaco Biomedical Products was a runner-up in The Wall Street Journal’s annual Technology Innovation Awards contest. The unit of Giagen, of the Netherlands, was recognized for developing a method to identify the presence of numerous infectious diseases from one test sample. It has been used in China to detect avian flu.

NIH Awards Agenta $900,000 for Drug Development

Agenta, a Birmingham, Ala., biotech firm, has received $900,000 of NIH funding to develop bone regeneration and wound-healing drugs. Agenta said it is seeking more capital to keep each of its drug research projects on track.

ARKANSAS

Medical Goods Maker Picks Arkansas for $1.5 Million Facility

Dynarex Corp., a disposable medical products producer, plans to invest $1.5 million in a new distribution center in Pocahontas, Ark. that will employ 40 people.

KANSAS

Kansas Authority to Invest over $1 Million in Thermo Fisher Unit

The Kansas State Bioscience Authority said it will invest up to $1.25 million in Thermo Fisher, the Lenexa, Kan., microbiology subsidiary of Fisher Scientific. The money is to go toward Thermo Fisher’s expansion, which is expected to create 90 to 180 jobs in the next five years; the company currently employs 470 people.

MARYLAND

Emergent BioSolutions Wins $400 Million Vaccine Contract

Rockville, Md.-based Emergent BioSolutions Inc. has been awarded a $400 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to deliver more than 18 million doses of anthrax vaccine through 2010 to shore up the national stockpile. Emergent could get an additional $34 million, if the FDA approves extending the vaccine's shelf life to four years from three.

MISSOURI

14 Life Science Projects to Receive $13.1 Million from Missouri

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt said he will distribute $13.1 million from the state’s Life Sciences Trust Fund to support 14 projects throughout the state. The Missouri Life Sciences Research Board voted to fund seven plant science projects, four animal health projects, and three bioenergy projects. Some $10.5 million is going to research projects and $2.6 million to commercial ventures.

NORTH CAROLINA

Clinical-Trial Firm Plans to Create 1,000 jobs in North Carolina

INC Research Inc. plans a $19.2 million expansion in Raleigh, N.C., that the company said will create 1, 093 jobs in the next four years. The privately owned concern conducts clinical development programs for pharmaceutical and biotech companies around the world.

Biomanufacturing Training Center Opens in Raleigh, N.C.

The Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, providing hands-on training for students, has opened at North Carolina State University. The 82,500-square-foot facility is expected to train up to 2,000 people a year in pharmaceutical, agricultural and other biotech fields. Golden LEAF, a foundation managing some of North Carolina’s tobacco-settlement money, anted up $38 million to build the center, and will provide $68 million for a project to expand biomanufacturing training statewide.

BioDelivery Sciences Collects $30 Million in Licensing Deal

BioDelivery Sciences International, of Morrisville, N.C., said it has received the initial $30 million milestone payment from Sweden-based Meda AB under their exclusive license agreement for the commercialization of BioDelivery Sciences’ BEMA Fentanyl in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for breakthrough cancer pain.

Duke Genome Institute Gets $6.5 Million NIH Grant

The Duke University Institute for Genome for Sciences & Policy received a $6.5 million, four-year grant, by the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

NC’s Oliver Smithies Wins Nobel Prize in Medicine

Dr. Oliver Smithies, excellence professor at the University of North Carolina’s medical school, in Chapel Hill, was one of three researchers awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for their work in gene research. Smithies was recognized for co-discovering “gene targeting,” a technique to introduce DNA material into cells. The discovery led to creation of so-called designer mice that replicated human diseases, and now are used in all fields of biomedicine.

Raleigh-Durham, N.C., a Top Area for Life Scientists

North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area was among the four best places for life sciences careers, according to Scientist magazine’s “2007 Life Sciences Salary Report.” Boston, San Diego and San Francisco rounded out the top spots.

Novozymes to Expand N.C. Plant; Eyes Midwest for One

To meet increasing demand fueled by growing U.S. ethanol production, Novozymes said it will invest more than $4 million to expand operations at its Franklinton, N.C., facility and add up to 60 employees to its current labor force of 450. The Danish-based company is the world’s largest maker of enzymes, a key ingredient in producing ethanol from corn kernels, as well as making beer, bread and detergents. Novozymes is considering building a plant devoted to producing enzymes for biofuel producers, and has been scouting sites in five Midwest states where most of the 100, or so, U.S. biofuel plants are located.

Health Decisions Expects to Add 200 Workers in North Carolina

Durham, N.C.-based Health Decisions has leased 42,000-square-feet of space for a new headquarters and expects to hire 200 more employees over the next two years. The company developed an optical-sensor pen that collects handwritten data, streamlining the collection of drug-testing information.

PRA International Moving HQ to N.C., Creating 500 Jobs

PRA International expects to create 500 jobs over the next five years after it relocates its Reston, Va., corporate headquarters to the Raleigh, N.C., area by the end of this year. The company conducts clinical trials.

TENNESSEE

Memphis Biotech Effort Starts Up With $11.5 Million of Funding

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation is launching INNOVA, a business accelerator and seed fund to drive development of technology-based companies in the Memphis area. MemphisED, the economic development arm of the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce, will provide $11.5 million, to be paid out over five years, to the Bioworks foundation to fund INNOVA, which will invest in small, innovative technology companies.

TEXAS

Construction to Start on Texas Med-Technology Park

The North Texas Enterprise Center for Medical Technology (NTEC) broke ground on the first building of a planned medical technology park in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. NTEC is a non-profit center formed to assist young medical technology companies. Frisco’s economic development corporation authorized an $11 million tax-exempt bond issue to help pay for the two-story, 50,000-square-foot building, which will lease office and lab space to a maximum of 35 medical technology firms.

Three Texas Schools to Share $8.7 Million Stem-Cell Grant

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded an $8.7 million, five-year grant to be shared by scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas’s Southwestern Medical School to conduct human embryonic stem cell research.

For the latest Life Sciences industry news from around the South, visit www.BioIndustrySouth.com.