Arizona's biotech news

[Guest guest]

According to the Flinn Foundation's Arizona Bioscience Roadmap, there

are four main strategies the state needs to focus on to develop a

strong bioscience hub. Here are those strategies and how Arizona

fared in the fourth quarter of 2005. Strategy 1: Build research

infrastructure The city of Phoenix offers a $25 million loan to help

pay for renovation of the three historic buildings that will house

the Phoenix campus of the University of Arizona medical school in

partnership with Arizona State University. The funds come from the

New Market Tax Program to assist underdeveloped areas. The city also

approved a bond package requiring voter approval that would include

$3 million for campus construction costs. Mayo Clinic adds a heart-

transplant center to its local arsenal and performs its first

transplant. In addition to being the only such program in the Phoenix

area, it also will offer surgery for advanced heart failure, cardiac-

rehabilitation services and the use of artificial hearts.

Researchers at UA's BIO5 Institute nab $6.2 million of a $29 million

grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to four institutions

to map the corn plant genome. The project comes only weeks after the

successful decoding of the rice genome, in which UA played a key

role. The Translational Genomics Research Institute opens a clinical

research lab at sdale Healthcare, funded by a $4.55 million

grant from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and partners with

St. ph's Hospital and Medical Center to open a pediatric

neurogenomics center. ASU debuts a supercomputer, ranking as one of

the world's 175 fastest, that will help researchers at the Biodesign

Institute to study the structure of viruses and explore ways to

improve the delivery of medications. Arizona research institutions

receive major grants, including: $21.6 million to the Arizona Cancer

Center from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study colon

cancer. $15 million to TGen from NCI for new treatments for

pancreatic cancer. $9 million to TGen from the Flinn Foundation for

unrestricted research. $8.9 million in federal grants to NAU and

TGen for methods of screening radiation victims. $6.2 million to ASU

from NSF to create a new center for nanotechnology. $4 million to

Southwest American Indian Collaborative Network, a collaboration

whose participants includes the Arizona Cancer Center and TGen, from

NCI to reduce cancer health disparities among American Indians. $3.9

million to the Biodesign Institute at ASU from the National

Institutes of Health for spinal chord injuries and other neurological

disorders. $2.5 million to UA BIO5 from NIH in honor of Vicki

Chandler's winning of the Director's Pioneer Award, a first for

Arizona. Strategy 2: Build critical mass of firms; InNexus

Biotechnology moves its headquarters to sdale, citing the Mayo

Clinic and Arizona's Bioscience Roadmap as key factors. The company

will bring 40 jobs and is considering the Valley among the contenders

for a manufacturing facility that would employ an additional 150

people. Covance, a global drug development firm, purchases acreage in

Chandler with intent to build a testing facility that would employ at

least 400. The company requires rezoning approval from the Chandler

City Council before moving forward. Aventis Pharmaceuticals, an

affiliate of Sanofi-Aventis, a France-based firm with operations in

Tucson, opens a regional office is sdale. Molecular Profiling

Institute, a firm created by TGen and the International Genomics

Consortium to commercialize TGen discoveries, receives $7.5 million

in private investment. Strategy 3: Enhance business environment

Biotech and pharmaceutical firms continue to improve in attracting

venture capital, helping to boost Arizona VC to its highest levels

since 2002. Entrepreneur magazine names Phoenix the top large city

nationally for starting a new business. The Arizona BioIndustry

Association adds professional staff for the first time via a grant

from the Flinn Foundation, intended to strengthen the infrastructure

of the trade association and to build its leadership capacity in

developing Arizona's bioscience sector. The biosciences are well

represented at the Governor's Celebration of Innovation, winning

awards for Startup Innovator of the Year (DMetrix), Small Company of

the Year (Intrinsic Bioprobes), and Innovator of the Year in Academia

(Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, Biodesign Institute

at ASU). Strategy 4: Prepare work force, educate citizens Civic

leaders spend four days at the Arizona Town Hall discussing the

state's opportunities to advance the biosciences. Town Hall officials

plan to share a final plan with audiences throughout Arizona. A new

Web site, Arizona BioBasics, provides fundamental information about

Arizona bioscience in plain language. The site, accessible

at " http://www.arizonabiobasics.com/ " >www.arizonabiobasics.com</a>,

is geared to lay audiences with basic questions about the state's

efforts and resources. Another site is launched that presents

information geared to tech companies starting or expanding in

Arizona --

" http://www.azbiztechdev.com/ " >www.azbiztechdev.com

Compiled by the Flinn

Foundation.