McPherson, Kan., doesn't immediately come to mind as an area where a bioscience company might thrive. But the city, located 60 miles north of Wichita, proves the perfect environment for the latest expansion of Hospira, Inc., a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company.
Hospira will conduct a $60 million investment to its McPherson facility, creating 100 new jobs in the areas of manufacturing and research and development. The construction project is made possible through a collaboration of the state of Kansas and the Kansas Bioscience Authority. The announcement comes on top of a previously completed $50 million expansion of the facility in 2005.
Hospira has a total of 46 injectable products in development, representing 31 different drug compounds. The additional capacity will help the company meet its demand for the growth of One 2One, the company's leading injectable contract manufacturing business.
“The announcement of this investment is a testament to the dedication of our employees, the commitment of the community, and the appreciated support from the Kansas Bioscience Authority and the state of Kansas,” said Bill Gately, plant manager of the McPherson operation, at the time of the announcement. The authority will partner with Hospira to create a scholars program, providing scholarships to support science internships at the facility for students who attend Kansas Board of Regents' universities. The authority will also offer signing bonuses and student loan reductions for recent graduates who commit to a minimum of two-years of full-time employment at the facility.
Commitments similar to the Hospira project are being repeated throughout the country. The biosciences industry is flourishing in locations beyond the traditional hot spots, such as Boston and the Research Triangle Park, N.C. Universities are working with the private sector to transfer their technologies into the marketplace in communities such as Pullman, Wash., with Washington State University in the community.
One company in the area, Genomex, a subsidiary of Amplicon Express, provides DNA sequencing services, cDNA libraries and other DNA activities. Another company, Veterinary Medical Diagnostics and Research Laboratories provides a variety of biologicals, including monoclonal antibodies and test kits for various diseases.
In Aurora, Colo., DMI BioSciences, which discovers and develops small molecule and peptide-based pharmaceutical and biomarkers for acute and chronic inflammation, will make the most of the synergies that exist at the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. The Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority is a partnership between the city and the University of Colorado. Partners include the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Services Center, University of Colorado Hospital and The Children's Hospital.
“We are excited about being located in the midst of the bioscience community at Fitzsimons, with the opportunity for growth and close collaboration with others in our industry,” says Bruce Miller, president and CEO, DMI.
Cook Pharmica LLC's $70 million facility in Bloomington, Ind., is developing relationships with its area Ivy Tech College, Indiana University's medical and science schools, and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The firm is one of only a few contract manufacturing services' facilities in the Midwest to use bioreactors to produce monoclonal antibodies. The company will be the first among its peers to offer Web cam services from secure Internet connections so that clients and regulatory agencies can view the production process.
Purdue University and Indiana University are ranked No. 1 and No. 3 nationwide for their analytical chemistry programs, which include the study of proteomics. “Researchers and entrepreneurs affiliated with biotech startups and Indiana's universities can use this facility to spawn new companies and new ideas,” says Steve Ferguson, chairman, the Cook Group, Cook Pharmica's parent company. David Johnson, president and CEO, BioCrossroads, says the company has taken a big step in the state's biotech production, bringing in a whole new group of young biotech companies that will test and manufacture their devices in Bloomington.
Niches and Collaborations
Economic developers and bioscience leaders around the country have established niches in the industry because they realize they can't all operate quite like the country's more established bioscience clusters. For instance, Arizona's science assets are today considered nontraditional by some, however, officials believe they will be the scientific assets of tomorrow, says Barry Broome, president and CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “In Arizona, we are focusing on personalized medicine so you will see a series of smaller entities here that will make us more productive, efficient and collaborative,” Broome says.
Broome contends that with the way science is changing, traditional biotech corridors will lack the nimbleness required to produce personalized medicines. There is a strong genomics platform in the state to support personalized medicine efforts. The presence of the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix not only provide genomics solutions to biotech and pharma companies but also provides research capabilities in the state to begin developing the platform for personalized medicine. The institute recently received a $9 million grant to research countermeasures for terrorist attacks involving radioactive materials.
The Translational Genomics Research Institute partners with many organizations in the area, including the Barrow Neurological Institute, a project of St. Joseph's Hospital. It is the largest inpatient neurological treatment facility in the country.
The University of Arizona is building a pharmacode genomics research institute in greater Phoenix, which is also closely tied to the Translational Genomics Research Institute. “It will bridge genomics more closely to the pharma industry,” Broome says. What's more, Broome sees the Critical Path Institute, located in Tucson, as a type of regulatory arm for the state to shorten the drug development chain.
The University of Arizona was one of the founders of the Critical Path Institute, along with SRI and the FDA. The group works to eliminate the toxicity in drugs, making them safe; as well as working to shorten the development process so that medications can get to the market quickly. “Almost every major pharma company in America is involved in this effort,” Broome notes.
Moving up to the Midwest to Iowa, in the Greater Cedar Valley region, the bioindustrial sector is the niche the community has established from the wide world of biosciences. Cedar Valley companies would prototype and produce an idea where primary research has already occurred, says Steve Dust, president and CEO, Greater Cedar Valley Alliance.
One company in the community converts animal and plant materials into lubricants for the railroad industry. Another company converts plant materials into high quality, high density sound deadening materials for the construction and ag equipment industries. “We will also be looking at how ag-based fuels perform in modern ag equipment,” Dust notes.
The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and others have begun the National Ag-Based Industrial Lubricant Laboratory. The lab is projected to be a part of the technology center at Cedar Valley TechWorks, a five-building campus located in Waterloo, which comprises 800,000 square feet of former production and office facilities for John Deere, which moved to a new $127 million drive-train production facility in the community. The company is partnering with the community on property matters and will vacate all of its space by October.
The University of Northern Iowa will also locate its metal casting center's bio-based binder project at the center, which is an R&D and prototyping facility. It is researching how to replace petro-based materials that may be damaging to the environment with environmentally inert products.
Moving south to North Carolina, the North Carolina Research Campus, which is scheduled for development in Kannapolis, will focus on biogenic contract manufacturing for its first 330,000-square-foot building, where the Core Laboratory and the Dole Research Institute will be housed, says John Cox, president and CEO, Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce. The Core Lab will include more than 75,000 square feet for multi-tenant space and will contain a DNA sequencing facility, micro-array facilities and other analytical tools.
The 10,000-square-foot Dole Research Institute will focus on research relating to nutrition, fruits and vegetables. There are also plans for 1 million square feet of office and lab space at the research campus, including a facility to house a partnership of the University of North Carolina, both Chapel Hill and Charlotte, and North Carolina State University, which will focus their research efforts on health and nutrition.
Money Changes Everything
Organizations that select the developing 350-acre research campus in Kannapolis also benefit from the 20-minute drive to Charlotte, which is the second-largest banking center in the country, with assets of more than $1.3 trillion. This speaks to the ability to access venture capital, angel investors and capital in general, all of which are needed by these companies, Cox says.
The bioscience industry will also find state governments continue to support the industry through their legislative initiatives. In fact, this year, a majority of the nation's governors have proposed legislation to support the bioscience industry in some fashion.
Companies will find an active and aggressive state government in Pennsylvania that will pull together and provide incentives, grants, loans or tax credits to fill financial gaps that exist. This year, Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund that would accelerate $500 million of state funding to be invested in research facilities and equipment that is needed to support faculty researchers, says Dennis Yablonsky, secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. “The initiative will focus on areas where Pennsylvania already conducts life sciences research, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, tissue engineering and the application of nanotech to biotech and devices,” Yablonsky says.
Pennsylvania features 2,000 bioscience companies, ranging from those who conduct research to biopharma companies to emerging companies. Annually, the state is awarded $1.4 billion in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Through its tobacco settlement revenues, the state also provides research funding of $700 million.
Three life sciences greenhouses that are located throughout the state were created with $100 million in tobacco settlement funds. In addition to technology transfer to existing companies and startups, the greenhouses provide early-stage services and funding to companies.
Also in Pennsylvania, an initial $60 million from the tobacco settlement funds were used to form four venture capital funds, which have raised a total of more than $400 million, exclusively for biosciences. What's more, the governor has also proposed $310 million of additional venture capital in his stimulus package.
In Arizona, the Legislature is reviewing the Innovation Arizona initiative that would be a seed capital fund to support the bioscience industry, which will range between $25 million to $50 million. “This year, we also have the $50 million Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, which is designed to support the world's leading scientists to spur biosciences advances that would lead to personalized medicine,” Broome says. “We also have a science foundation in the works that the business community is developing, which should be another $50 million. It hasn't been announced just yet.”
In addition to financing efforts, Broome says Arizona also supports the bioscience industry because it lacks hierarchies, allowing for easier access to university faculty, medical schools and institutes.
“We worked with a company that came down from Canada, InNexus Biotechnology, Inc., and within six months it had a transactional relationship with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, and ended up on site at the clinic's campus,” Broome says. The firm is developing antibody-based drugs derived from the body's immune defenses, therefore the drugs require less time and funding to develop. “It is another example of us operating where traditional (bioscience) places have not,” Broome says.
As bioscience firms will determine through conducting site searches, locations across the country are prepared to support the industry through partnerships, collaborations and financing. Rather than trying to suit the bioscience industry as a whole, these communities are ready to support particular niches of the industry. This makes it easier to see why places like McPherson, Kan., offer a unique appeal to the industry.
For complete details about the organizations featured in this article, visit:
Cabarrus (N.C.) Regional Chamber of Commerce, www.cabarrusedc.com
Cook Pharmica LLC, www.cookpharmica.com
Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, www.colobio.com
Greater Cedar Valley (Iowa) Alliance, www.cedarvalleyalliance.com
Greater Phoenix Economic Council, www.gpec.org
Hospira, Inc., www.hospira.com
Kansas Bioscience Authority, www.ktec.com
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, www.newpa.com
Biosciences
Based on number of establishments.
New Branches
California
Maryland (tie)
2. Nevada (tie)
2. Massachusetts (tie)
2. New York (tie)
6. Illinois
7. Oklahoma (tie)
7. New Jersey (tie)
7. Texas (tie)
7. Missouri (tie)
Startups
California
Maryland
Texas
Massachusetts
New York (tie)
5. Florida (tie)
7. North Carolina
8. Washington
9. Illinois
10. New Jersey
Data includes the following SICs:
2836 Biological products
8071.01 Medical testing laboratories
8731.01 Biological research
8733.01 Non-commercial biological research
Oklahoma City Follows Its Road Map
Oklahoma City economic development officials are diligently following the bioscience road map they have developed to build on the bioscience assets they have, and to address areas the community falls short.
One of the largest advantages of the region is the space and facilities available to support startups and growth companies. Facilities are available at Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park in Oklahoma City; the Meridian Technology Center for Business Development in Stillwater; and the Technology Entrepreneurial Center in Norman; and the Noble Foundation's research facilities in Ardmore. The region also has a prepared workforce, awarding 2,500 bioscience degrees in 2002.
At the same time, while Oklahoma City officials recognize their strengths, such as receiving $72.6 million in National Institutes of Health awards in 2003, double the amount in 1999, they understand the region falls below competing regions in bioscience R&D funding. The community also lacks a single voice for the bioscience sector. And it has a gap in later stage venture capital funding when compared to benchmarks.
The Oklahoma City region will build on its established platforms in autoimmune disease and immunology; cardiology and cardiovascular research; glycobiology and glycomics; infectious disease microbiology; plant genomics and transgenics for crop and forage improvement; vision research and ophthalmic neuroscience.
It will also tap its existing technology infrastructure; form more collaborative partnerships; increase funding from the state, foundations and the private sector; and create an environment to attract researchers and entrepreneurs to the region.
Oklahoma City officials believe that following their road map, the bioscience sector will create nearly 7,700 jobs, and that new regional bioscience firms have the potential to generate a cumulative total of more than $425 million during the next 10 years.
For complete details, visit www.greateroklahomacity.com.
Biotech Blooms In The Netherlands
As a result of its pro-business government, a qualified labor pool and an infrastructure of educational institutions geared to the life sciences, the Netherlands has emerged as a global leader in biotech research and development with almost one quarter of Dutch research schools partially devoted to biotech.
For more than two decades, the Dutch government has supported programs for rapid commercialization of scientific advances. For example, it offers interest-free loans and tax breaks to support R&D activities. In addition, streamlined regulations have reduced the start-up time from seven months (U.S.) to four to six weeks in the Netherlands for Phase I clinical trials. As a result, biotech companies can bring products to market more quickly — a huge advantage in the industry where every day of sales can be worth millions of dollars.
One company that took advantage to expand in the Netherlands in 2005 is Biovec BV, a life science company focused on developing new gene therapy products. A joint venture of Chicago-based Biovec LLC and University of Groningen Holding Co., the company recently discovered a solution to a cause of relapse in coronary artery bypass surgery. The company's principals launched Biovec BV to conduct clinical trials at the University of Groningen and University of Groningen Hospital Laboratories due to the less cumbersome regulatory climate in the Netherlands, as well as access to English-speaking researchers.
Another company, Canadian-based VisualSonics, had very specific requirements for its new European headquarters. It preferred a central location, access to lab animals for demonstrations and training, and proximity to other high-tech firms. Home to several knowledge-based institutions and less than 20 minutes away from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam's Science Park proved to be the ideal site.
For complete details about conducting bioscience activities in the Netherlands, visit the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency at www.nfia.com.
