October 9--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.

October 9--Rules-Based Medicine, of Austin, Texas, has acquired EDI, Experimentelle and Diagnostische Immunologie, of Reutlingen, Germany. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

October 8--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.

October 8--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.

October 4--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.

Oct. 2-- 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.

Oct. 2--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, which 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.

September 27--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.

September 26--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.

September 25--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.

September 19--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.

September 14--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, announced September 5, for the commercialization of BioDelivery Sciences' BEMA Fentanyl in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for breakthrough cancer pain.

Sept. 11--Chlorogen Inc., a once promising plant science startup, has ceased research operations and is selling off its technology, the St. Louis, Mo.-based firm said. Dow AgroSciences bought exclusive rights to Chlorogen's biotech crop technology for use in developing animal vaccines. Dow also has a non-exclusive right to use the approach in developing biotech crops.

September 7--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.

September 4--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.

August 16-- Biogen Idec, a Massachusetts-based biotech firm with a large presence in North Carolina, is selling the U.S. rights to cancer drug Zevalin to Cell Therapeutics. Biogen could receive more than $30 million, with $10 million and $20 million in milestone payments and royalties on sales. Outside the U.S., Biogen already has licensed Zevalin sales to Bayer.

August 16--Romark Laboratories said it has begun a Phase II clinical trial of Alinia for treating chronic hepatitis C.  The Tampa, Fla., company said it will release interim data from an international clinical trial of Alinia, at the November meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

August 15—Durham, N.C., startup Parion Sciences entered a co-development agreement that gives pharma giant Gilead Sciences worldwide commercialization rights to Parion's drug P-680, which the companies are to develop for treatment of pulmonary diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Initially, Gilead will pay $5 million for the license and a $5 million equity stake in Parion. If all the goals in the agreement were met, Parion would be entitled to an additional $146 million.

August 14--Durham, N.C., drug company Icagen announced a major financing and development deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Icagen will get $38 million over the next two years, including some $12 million for licensing. It also could earn up to $359 million in milestone payments for each product developed, with a maximum potential of $1 billion. Pfizer also agreed to buy $5 million of Icagen stock now and $10 million more within the next 18 months.

August 14--Biolex, a Pittsboro, N.C., biotechnology firm, filed papers for a proposed initial public offering of its stock. The company didn't say how many shares it planned to sell, but said the IPO could raise as much as $70 million. Biolex has raised nearly $100 million in venture capital, including $30 million in May.

August 9—Medical device maker Smith & Nephew has donated $1 million toward the new $327 million hospital addition Memphis's Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center's plans to build.

August 9--The National Institutes of Health has awarded $4.4 million to the University of Louisville for its new Center for Environmental Genomics and Integrative Biology. Its research will focus on  cardiology, environment and cancer, and the origins of health and disease. Director Kenneth Ramos said 25 scientists who are faculty members will participate in the research.

August 6--BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it has signed an agreement to sell 8.3 million shares at $7.80 per share, for a total $64.7 million. In addition, the company is offering 3.2 million option shares for $10.25 plus a 12.5-cent per share fee. The Birmingham, Ala., company, in January, won a $102.6 million federal contract to develop a drug to combat seasonal and life-threatening flu.

August 6--Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Inc. said Monday it is formally requesting dispute resolution with the Food and Drug Administration's withholding approval for the high blood pressure drug Thelin. If it loses the dispute resolution, the Houston drug firm would have to conduct another late-stage clinical trial to reapply for approval. That could take up to two years.

August 6—The Tech Council of Maryland/MdBio, the state's biggest biotech trade group, named former board member Rick Zakour its new executive director.

August 1—Kyphon Inc., a California developer and marketer of medical devices to restore and preserve spinal function, is opening a 19,200-square-foot distribution and customer-support center in Huntersville, N.C. It will begin operating in early 2008 with from 12 to 25 employees.

August 1—Birmingham's non-profit Southern Research Institute agreed to sell its Brookwood Pharmaceuticals drug delivery firm to SurModics, Inc. for $62 million. Southern Research will be paid $40 million when the deal closes and is to get up to $22 million more when Brookwood achieves specified milestones. Brookwood will remain in Birmingham, where it provides about 70 jobs.

July 31--The University of Alabama at Birmingham has purchased a new, super-fast computer that will help medical researchers studying tumors and other diseases. UAB said the IBM Blue Gene/L, which can perform 5.6 trillion calculations a second, will improve the school's ability to perform computational biology and molecular simulations, as well as attract top teachers and researchers.

July 31--The Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, received a $15 million, five-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further AIDS research and drug development. The center's researchers are working in 109 sites in 36 countries to treat and research HIV and AIDS.

July 31-- Sydney, Australia-based QRxPharma and the University of Alabama entered into a collaborative research and licensing agreement to re-engineer existing drug therapies for new applications including the treatment of dystonia, Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders. UAB's Drs. Guy Caldwell and Kim Caldwell, recognized for their research on Parkinson's disease and dystonia, will serve on QRxPharma's scientific advisory board.

July 31--The Georgia Department of Economic Development has promoted Carol Henderson to director of its Innovation & Technology Office.

July 31--Novavax Inc. said it has started vaccinating volunteers in the first human clinical trial of its vaccine to protect people against the H5N1 strain of avian flu linked to scores of deaths in Southeast Asia last year and found in birds as far west as southeastern Europe. The company is seeking 230 healthy adults to test different doses of the vaccine. The first person was enrolled at Healthcare Discoveries in San Antonio, one of two U.S. clinical sites.

Separately, On July 9, Novavax said it secured non-exclusive, worldwide rights to patent applications covering Wyeth Holdings Corp.'s virus-like particle technology for use in human vaccines. Novavax payments to Wyeth could total $5 million through the end of 2008.

July 28--In a filing with the SEC, Talecris Biotherapeutics said it plans an initial public stock offering that might raise as much as $1 billion for the Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based pharmaceutical company. Created two years ago when Cerberus Capital Management and Ampersand Ventures bought the business from German chemical giant Bayer, Talecris posted $87.4 million of profit last year on revenue of $1.1 billion, according to a recent SEC filing.

July 26--Osiris Therapeutics, a Columbia, Md., stem cell research company, said it will work with Genzyme Corp. on a treatment for exposure to radiological weapons. The initial focus of the partnership will be to develop Osiris' drug Prochymal to treat complications of radiation exposure. A formulation of adult stem cells derived from bone marrow, Prochymal is in third-phase clinical trials for treatment of Crohn's disease and graft-versus-host disease. The drug might treat and help repair damage caused by a nuclear or radiological attack, boosting U.S. defenses against terrorism.

July 25—Medical device maker Smith & Nephew will build a 210,00-square-foot warehouse and distribution center at the Memphis Logistics & Technology Center. Based in London, Smith & Nephew's Orthopaedic Reconstruction and Orthopaedic Trauma and Clinical Therapies units are based in Memphis.

July 25—Charlotte, N.C.-based NewGen Technologies Inc. said it agreed to have its Refuel America Inc. unit exclusively manufacture biofuels for Appalachian Oil Co. Inc., a gasoline retailer with 218 stations, that NewGen tried and failed to acquire months ago. Now, Appalachian Oil is being acquired by a subsidiary of Titan Global Holdings Inc., of Texas, for an undisclosed sum.

July 20--Phenotype Screening Corp., a biotech startup in Seymour, Tenn., was one of the 100 winners of the Chicago Tribune's “Oscars of Innovation” research and development awards for its groundbreaking work in crop and tree diagnostics. The Chicago Tribune makes the awards to the 100 most technologically significant products to enter the marketplace each year. Phenotype Screening's non-invasive methods of studying plant root systems enable scientists to develop stronger, more pest- and drought-resistant crops. The new techniques can also help improve production of switchgrass, willows, poplars and other plants used as feedstock in biofuels.

July 18--Novozymes North America's parent company, in Bangalore, India, has agreed to buy the enzyme business of Banglore-based Biocon Ltd. for $115 million. In Franklinton, N.C., Novozymes N.A. operates a large enzyme manufacturing facility with about 350 employees.

July 16--BioMedomics, a medical-devices startup in Morrisville, N.C., has received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it eligible for matching state funds.

July 15, 2007--Pharmaceutical development company Quintiles Transnational Corp. said it is investing $19 million to move its global central laboratories in Smyrna, Ga.,  and clinical development services office in Atlanta to the former AT&T building in Marietta, Ga. The move will create 400 jobs over the next four years.

July 11, 2007—ProEthic Pharmaceuticals, Inc., said it has the exclusive license to distribute Cipher Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s Lipofen cholesterol-lowering drug in the U.S. The Montgomery, Ala.-based firm said it will pay Ontario, Canada-based Cipher a $2 million licensing fee, plus royalties based on sales. 

July 10, 2007--Auburn University professor Mark Byrne's start-up company OcuMedic won the $100,000 grand prize in the Alabama Launchpad Business Plan Competition. Byrne developed a contact lens that provides delayed delivery of eye medications. Alabama's new-business plan competition is funded by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and six state universities.

July 9, 2007--BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., said the Food and Drug Administration has agreed to provide feedback on the design of the clinical trial of oral doses of BioCryst's cancer drug Fodosine.

July 8, 2007--The 270,000-square-foot Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, in Huntsville, Ala., is expected to start operations in November with about 45 employees, including four principal investigators. The facility, designed to foster the interaction of scientists and the companies it houses, is expected to employ 100 to 120 researches in the next two years. Additionally, 10 companies are set to move into the facility, creating some 200 jobs.

July 5, 2007--U.K.-based Fibrowatt, which operates power plants fueled with poultry farm waste, is negotiating to build a facility in northwest Arkansas, with 20 to 40 employees. Fibrowatt said it also is negotiating for plants in North Carolina, Maryland, and Mississippi. The firm has a poultry-waste generating plant operating in Minnesota.

July 2, 2007­­—Houston-base Nova Biosource Fuels Inc. has been awarded a $14.1 million contract to build a biodiesel plant for Scott Petroleum Corp. in Greenville, Miss.

July 2, 2007--Range Fuels Inc., which plans to turn pine trees into biofuel, obtained key environmental and construction permits from Georgia for a proposed $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga. The company expects to break ground on its 100-million-gallon-a-year facility this summer. Range Fuel is in line for a $76 million U.S. Energy Department grant to build and operate the plant.

June 28, 2007--Renewable Energy Group broke ground on an $80 million biodiesel plant in St. Rose, La., the ninth ethanol project under development in the state. The Louisiana facility is expected to produce 60 million gallons of synthetic diesel a year and create 25 jobs. Renewable operates three ethanol plants in the Midwest.

June 28, 2007--Consolidated Biofuels Inc. said it plans to build a combination biodiesel and soybean oil facility east of McGehee in Chicot County, Ark., with up to 200 employees. The Chicago-based firm and International Bio Fuels Corp.  will jointly build and operate the $78 million plant, which could produce 150 million gallons of biodiesel and 70 million bushels of soybean oil crush annually.

June 26, 2007--Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corp. plan to invest $150 million in a joint venture to build and operate a plant to make synthetic diesel fuel using fat from Tyson's food processing facilities. Earlier this year, Tyson announced a deal with ConocoPhillips to run Tyson fat through existing Conoco refineries to make biodiesel.

June 26, 2007--Two years after announcing ambitious plans for a biotech park in Miami's Liberty City area, Dade County severed ties with the promoter and promised to recover public money spent on the project. The action came days after the Miami Herald reported that more than $500,000 had been diverted from the project through double billing and questionable expenses.

June 26, 2007--MWI Veterinary Supply, Inc., of  Meridian, Idaho, will build a distribution center in Edwardsville, Kan., creating about 30 jobs. The site is in the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, which claims being home to more than 120 animal health companies.

June 25, 2007--Novo Nordisk has opened its $100 million, 200,000 square-foot  insulin-production addition in Clayton, N.C. This is the company's second expansion in three years; the 50 new jobs increased the total workforce to 400.

June 25, 2007--The U.S. Energy Department announced that one of  three bioenergy research centers it will create will be located in Tennessee. It will be led by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with participation by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia and Tennessee universities. The other centers will be located in Madison, Wis., and Berkeley, Calif. The Energy Department will provide $25 million in funding for each center for the next five years.

June 21, 2007--Within the next few years, California-based Burnham Institute for Medical Research said it plans to create 300 research jobs and build the planned 175,000 square foot facility that the institute announced last year for the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Fla.

June 21, 2007--Icagen Inc. said McNeil Consumer & Speciality Pharmaceuticals, Icagen's partner in development of sickle-cell medication senicapoc, will end its relationship with the Durham, N.C.-based firm effective Sept. 18. In April, human trials of senicapoc were stopped when it was determined the drug didn't halt the pain caused by sickle-cell.

June 21, 2007—M2GEN, the previously announced joint venture of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, at the University of South Florida, and Merck & Co., is expected to produce 165 new high paying jobs in the Tampa area over the next three to five years.

June 20, 2007--The Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission has launched bioOrlando to promote life science and biotechnology industry in Central Florida.

June 13, 2007­­­­­­­­--Gov. Rick Perry signed a law to create the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas and to dedicate $300 million a year of general obligation bonds to fund research aimed at discovering a cure for cancer. Voters must approve the bond issue in November.

June 13, 2007--The North Carolina Biosciences Organization and the North Carolina Entrepreneurial Association are pressuring state legislators to extend a 25 percent tax credit for those investing in qualifying small companies. The credit is due to expire at year's end.

June­­ 11, 2007--Raleigh, N.C.-based Erimos Pharmaceuticals is performing more human trials on EM-1421, or terameprocol, to learn the most effective dosage. Past trials revealed doses weren't sufficient for the drug to remain in patients' blood long enough. Erimos licenses EM-1421 from Johns Hopkins University.

June 7, 2007--Durham, N.C.-based Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which is working on targeting metalloenzymes  for infectious disease, inflammation and cancer, said it has closed on a $4 million financing, of which Hatteras Venture Partners and Intersouth Partners were the co-leaders.

June 4, 2007 --Washington University in St. Louis said it  will invest $55 million to create the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). Besides $40 million for a new building, the school said will provide at least $12.5 million for five new endowed professorships in the fields of energy, environment and sustainability.

June 1, 2007--PSS World Medical Inc. plans to consolidate the Orlando and St. Petersburg distribution facilities for its physician division into a new, bigger Orlando location.

May 31, 2007—Bayer CropScience has entered into an agreement to purchase Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company, a leading US provider of cotton seeds, from Monsanto Company for a total purchase price of $310 million.  The acquisition is expected to enhance the fast-growing US cotton seed business of Bayer CropScience, currently the second-largest cotton seed supplier in North America.  The acquisition will help Bayer develop new seed varieties and develop new cotton seed technologies. Bayer's global cotton business is headquartered in Lubbock, Tex.  According to the company, some jobs could be added at the company's Lubbock headquarters, but that won't be finalized until the deal receives regulatory approval.

May 30, 2007—London-based AstraZeneca will move forward with its purchase of Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune after being cleared by the Federal Trade Commission.  MedImmune currently has about 45 drugs in the pipeline.

May 29, 2007—Between 2005 and 2006, public and private sector investments in research at major Florida universities were up more than $36.5 million, according to a recent survey by technology transfer directors at 13 Florida research universities.  The survey tracked university research funding, licenses of technology for commercial product development, patents awarded, and income derived from research that was mostly medical or technology related.  According to the survey, income from licensed technology at Florida's major research universities has also been on the rise.  Licensed income totaled over $47 million, up $3.7 million from 2005.  Patents were also up; Florida university researchers were issued 156 U.S. patents in 2006.

May 24, 2007—Charlotte, N.C., based MedCath Corp. said construction will start late this summer on a $33 million, 120-bed  addition to the Louisiana Heart Hospital, in Lacombe, La. Opened in February 2003, the facility will be renamed the Louisiana Medical Center and Heart Hospital.

May 24, 2007--Biolex Therapeutics, of Pittsboro, N.C., said it raised $30 million in a venture funding, which will be used for phase three trials of Locteron, designed to treat hepatitis C. So far, the firm has raised  $100 in venture capital fundings.

(Editorial)

Eli Lilly Decision to Stop Construction in Virginia

Painful, but not Fatal

We wanted to take a minute to reflect on what's likely to be the most disappointing “broken engagement” of 2007—Eli Lilly's decision to stop construction on its $325 million insulin manufacturing facility in Prince William County, Va.

Imagine being the person to get the phone call with that news.  Imagine the disappointment for Prince William County and the State of Virginia—especially after they successfully competed against 300 other potential sites for the project just five years earlier.

Citing strategic changes to its global manufacturing operations, Eli Lilly and Co. said that it would stop construction of an insulin manufacturing plant in Virginia because it could meet capacity at other existing sites.  At the same time, the drugmaker said it would make “significant” new investments at a site in Kinsale, Ireland where the company does manufacturing for biotechnology products.  Ouch!

In the company's formal announcement on January 11, 2007, Scott Canute, Lilly's president of manufacturing operations said, “The decision to cease construction of the Prince William County site is very difficult because of the impact on employees.  In addition, we have received tremendous cooperation and support from community and state officials.”  Construction on the site stopped immediately and the company returned all economic development incentives it received from state and local entities.  Crews at the site even shifted from construction to demolition so that the site could be sold as green space. 

No one can deny it—it hurts.  A potential investment that never comes to fruition is always hard, but that's especially true when you're talking about one of the world's top pharmaceutical companies.

Fortunately, southerners as a breed aren't easily discouraged and the South won't lose heart in its pursuit to become the next great biotechnology region.   States and communities all across the South have tremendous advantages for life sciences both on the R&D and the manufacturing sides. (You can read all about these advantages on www.BioIndustrySouth.com).

INNOVATION@Prince William County for example, the 1500-acre business and technology park where the insulin plant was being constructed, has a record of wins that predates the Eli Lilly deal and has kept going strong.  Anchored by George Mason University's life science campus, INNOVATION has attracted nearly 2,700 new jobs and a total investment of over $830 million in the last decade or so. 

While the Lilly jobs (and for sure the Eli Lilly name) will be missed, the setback isn't fatal for Prince William County, the State of Virginia, or the South's bio industry.

May 20, 2007--For the People LLC has selected Louisville's Riverport Development Complex as its new home, making it Kentucky's largest fuel alcohol production facility and sustainable energies complex.  The company plans to construct a new dry mill ethanol production facility to produce liquid ethanol biofuel from corn.  The project will create 60 new jobs in Metro Louisville.

May 18, 2007--Maryland Stem Cell Commission in its first year of funding has awarded 24 grants to researchers at the state's universities and life sciences companies.  A division of the Maryland Technology Development Corp., the commission was set up to oversee the state's stem cell research efforts.  In 2007, a $15 million stem cell research fund was established for grants.  Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, Baltimore dominated the awards.  In 2008, the state has earmarked $23 million for stem cell research funding.

May 8, 2007--The net income of Theragenics, based in Buford, Ga., jumped 51 percent in the first quarter 2007 as both of the company's main business lines made a profit.  The company's product offerings include surgical products and devices for cancer treatment.

May 7, 2007--Several southern states are among the dozen competing for a proposed 520,000-square-foot National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that will cost at least $450 million to build.  The U.S. Homeland Security Department facility promises at least 300 lab-related jobs.  Although states' written bids have not been made public, southern states reportedly bidding for the site include: Texas, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Missouri, and Kentucky.

May 4, 2007—Medtronic, Inc. will invest $20 million-$30 million to construct and equip a 150,000-square-foot warehouse in Memphis.  Medtronic will erect a new building and also renovate two existing buildings over the next 18 months.

May 2, 2007--As the nation pushes for alternative energy sources, Texas A&M University scientists have produced a genetically engineered crop of sorghum they believe will be a more efficient and economical option to corn in drier parts of the country.  The researchers have been working over the past several years to extend sorghum's growing season, allowing it to double its height, thicken its stalk and become even more tolerant of drought.

April 26, 2007--AstraZeneca has agreed to buy Gaithersburg-based MedImmune.  For AstraZeneca, the move is designed to boost the company's depleted drug portfolio by moving deeper into biotech medicine and taking a first step into vaccines.  AstraZeneca has said that the deal is expected to close in June 2007.  Analysts have said that the MedImmune purchase shows that pharmaceutical companies are looking toward biotechs as they seek new ways to grow.

April 25, 2007--In Alabama, the state docks are increasing their use of biodiesel fuels, the port authority has announced.  According to the ports authority, all of its equipment will now operate on a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel with all of the biodiesel made from soybeans.

April 25, 2007--Oncology Supply Company, Inc., a division of AmerisourceBergen Corporation's Specialty Group and one of the nation's largest oncology distributors, celebrated the grand opening of its newly expanded Dothan oncology distribution center.  The company has invested $12 million in the expansion and will create an additional 40 jobs in Dothan.

April 18, 2007--Red Hat, a Raleigh-based software company, has signed up as a partner at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis.  The company will have an office at the campus' Core Lab and will use its software system to improve collaboration among the various researchers at the campus.

April 18, 2007--More than 10 biotech companies, most of the based in the Research Triangle, have started to look for their first round of investment, making them what's considered early-stage companies.  Cognosci, an RTP-based biotech company hopes to raise $15 million, which would help create as many as seven jobs by 2008.  Meanwhile, Jenken Biosciences, a drug development company in RTP, Onoscope, a medical device company in Durham, and medical software companies TheraSim in Durham and ZyCare in Chapel Hill are working to raise a total of $16.5 million to add more than 50 jobs over the next two to four years.

April 16, 2007--Expression Genetics Inc. has completed Phase I clinical studies on EGEN-001—its lead cancer drug.  The study was completed by researchers at Texas' Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

April 2007--PharMerica Corporation, a new publicly traded pharmaceutical company, will locate its corporate headquarters in Louisville, creating 200 new jobs.  The company, formed by the combination of AmerisourceBergen Corporation's and Kindred Healthcare, Inc.'s institutional pharmacy businesses, will constitute the second largest national provider of institutional pharmacy services.

April 2, 2007--The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently selected six universities and medical centers to help lead influenza research efforts.  The agency will spend $23 million per year for the next seven years to establish six Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance.  Two locations in the South were among the six selected for the centers including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and Atlanta's Emory University.

April 2, 2007--Gaithersburg-based BioVeris is being purchased by one of the world's biggest diagnostics firms Roche for $600 million.  The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, is expected to make Roche stronger in immunochemistry and enable it to move into new markets.

April 2, 2007--Emerald Biofuels LLC has announced a $15 million project to produce biodiesel fuel at the Bayer CropScience site in Institute, W.Va.  Golf, Ill.-based Emerald Biofuels has developed proprietary process for making biodiesel fuel from soybean oil and other seed crops.  Construction of the production facility is expected to start in June 2007, with product shipment by the end of the year.  Terms of its agreement with Bayer call for Emerald to produce 30 million gallons of biodiesel fuel annually.  At least a dozen employees from Bayer CropScience will support the biodiesel operation.

March 21, 2007—St. Louis-based Monsanto, currently the leader in selling corn seeds with biotech traits to North American farmers, will pair a roster of eight seed traits with BASF's early-stage research and database of 35,000 plant genes.  The two firms will equally share funding up to $1.5 billion in costs to develop the genetic traits that can increase yields and hardiness from corn, soybean, cotton, and canola crops.  The companies said that recent environmental mandates in the U.S. and Europe to replace fossil fuels with vegetable oils will lead to farmers' need to increase crop production.

March 16, 2007—Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher said that his agenda for a possible special session of the state General Assembly would include a bill for economic-development incentives for alternative fuel such as ethanol or renewable energy facilities.  The state's first major biodiesel plant, being built by Owensboro Grain Co., is expected to be finished in summer 2007 and should produce 40 million gallons of biodiesel per year.  Fletcher said he also believes the incentives could help bring cellulosic ethanol plants in Eastern Kentucky when that technology becomes commercially feasible. Cellulostic ethanol can be made from switchgrass and other crops that can be grown in Kentucky, rather than corn.

March 15, 2007—Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) has started a new venture fund that will invest in the life sciences sector.  The new BioLife Fund has emerged out of CIT's growth acceleration program, a three-year-old initiative that funds early-stage technology companies.  The Fund will finance start-ups in the pharmaceutical, medical devices, and health services fields.

Virginia's Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC, a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the start of human trials of trans sodium crocetinate (TSC), its lead drug candidate.  TSC is being studied as a potential treatment for numerous diseases involving oxygen deprivation at the cellular level.  To date, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals, which is privately owned and financed, has received $2.6 million in research grants from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to help fund TSC's development.

March 14, 2007--GenPhar, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing vaccines that protect against the world's most dangerous infectious diseases, is expanding its operations in the Charleston-area community of Mount Pleasant.  GenPhar will grow from 20 employees to more than 140 and will construct a 50,000 facility that will be used for manufacturing as well as corporate office and laboratory space.

February 13, 2007--In Maryland, the Department of the Environment has given tentative approval to permit two ethanol manufacturing plants near Baltimore's harbor.  The plants, which would be the first on the East Coast, include a $100 million/100 job project proposed by Atlantic Ethanol in Curtis Bay and a $200 million project proposed by Ecron Inc. for Sparrows Point in Baltimore County.

March 7, 2007--Birmingham-based BioCryst Pharmaceuticals signed a licensing agreement with Japanese company Shionogi & Co. Ltd. for development of antiviral Peramivir.   As the deal is structured, BioCryst could receive more than $100 million in potential payments and up to 20 percent of royalties on Shionogi antiviral drug sales in Japan.

February 19, 2007--It's been a hot few months for bioenergy in rural Georgia.  In February, Alterra Bioenergy Corp. selected Plains, Ga. for its 30-million-gallon biodiesel plant creating 20 new jobs.  Also that month, dot-com billionaire Vinod Khosla announced construction of a $225 million plant in Soperton to turn pine trees into ethanol.  His company, Range Fuels Inc., may also build other plants across South Georgia's pine-tree belt.  Meanwhile, First United Ethanol broke ground in January on a $175 million factory in Camilla that should produce 100 million gallons of ethanol from corn.  The plant is scheduled to open in 2008 and will employ about 70.  In December, Alterra announced construction of a 10-million-gallon biodiesel plant in Gordon that will employ 15.

February 19, 2007—MedImmune says it will continue to “aggressively implement its business plan” rather than looking for a potential buyer.  Talk of the company's sale came following a shareholder's letter urging the company to sell itself.  In related news, billionaire investor Carl Icahn recently purchased a large enough share in MedImmune to make him the company's 19^th largest shareholder.

February 19, 2007--A supplier of research and development products for the life sciences industry, Pelican Life Sciences, has chosen Maryland for its newest distribution location.  According to company leaders, the Williamsport location was chosen because of its easy access to both north/south and east/west transportation routes.  Pelican Life Sciences is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.

February 12, 2007--Bargas Medical Manufacturing Inc. is moving its headquarters from Flatonia in South Texas to Bastrop.  The company plans to break ground on an 18,000 square-foot building in the city's industrial park.

January, 29, 2007--Virginia-based biotech firm Cel-Sci will build a $15 million manufacturing plant in Baltimore to produce its first cancer drug, which after 24 years is entering final testing.  Cel-Sci will build a 30,000 square-foot plant near its current offices at Seton Industrial Park.  The plant will be used to produce Cel-Sci's blend of immune system proteins that make up its lead drug Multikine and will open in summer 2008.

January 11, 2007--Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lily has canceled plans for a $325 million facility in Prince William County, citing lack of demand for its insulin products.  Eli Lily has been building a 300,000 square-foot insulin manufacturing facility on a 120-acre site at the Innovation @ Prince William Technology Business Park.

January 8, 2007--A renewable biofuel mill is set to be built near Baxley, Ga., creating about 20 jobs immediately and an additional 90 later.  Fram Renewable Fuels, the company building the mill, will be the first tenant of a new tri-county industrial park, which covers Appling, Bacon, and Jeff Davis counties.

January 5, 2007—Maryland-based MedImmune is likely to come under increased pressure from large investors to sell itself to another company in order to take advantage of its valuable products.  One large shareholder suggested selling to a large drugmaker that would be able to better market MedImmune products such as FluMist and Synagis.

January 2, 2007—Tyson Foods, based in Springdale, Ark., announced recently that it has established a renewable energy division that will be up and running during 2007. Tyson's new division is in response to the shift to animal fat as a fuel stock, which could be key to making the budding biodiesel industry a reliable fuel source for U.S. trucking fleets.

January 2, 2007—Last year marked major progress for Maryland's biotech industry as it starts to increase venture-capital investment and develop new drugs.  In fact, the industry is moving beyond its traditional research role and reaching for commercial success on track with biotech hotbeds like San Francisco and Boston.

“What we saw (in 2006) was more companies turn the corner, not in terms of drug approvals, but in terms of receiving significant money and the realization of new drugs coming to market,” said Bob Eaton, president of the MdBio Foundation, the trade association that represents biotech companies.  The number of bioscience companies in Maryland shot up from 293 in 2002 to 360 in 2006.  Most of the life sciences firms in Maryland are in Montgomery County, along the Interstate 270 corridor.  In 1998, the bioscience industry employed about 14,500 people.  Today, the industry has almost 25,000, according to the MdBio Foundation.

December 20, 2006—Maryland-based MedImmune Inc. has licensed its proprietary reverse genetics intellectual property to CSL Ltd. of Australia to support the development of new human seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines.  MedImmune will receive an upfront payment and has the potential to receive royalties on any vaccine stockpiles or other product sales using the reverse genetics technology, according to the company.

December 18, 2006—Outgoing Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush has launched the Interamerican Commission on Ethanol of which he will become the co-chair.  The commission is a partnership arrangement with Brazil to learn from the nation's leadership in producing ethanol from sugar cane.

December 18, 2006—Maryland-based MedImmune has sold its transplant drug to ZLB Behring.  The drug, CytoGam was Gaithersburg-based MedImmune's first marketed product. ZLB Behring is based in Pennsylvania and is a subsidiary of Melbourne, Australia-based CSL Ltd.

December 15, 2006—SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute based in Menlo Park, California, will establish its new Center for Advanced Drug Research in the Rockingham Center for Research and Technology in Rockingham, Va.  SRI's Center for Advanced Drug Research, called CADRE, will partner with James Madison University and other Virginia institutions in its research efforts.  Within 10 years, the project will create more than 100 new jobs.

December 15, 2006--Pharmaceutical powerhouse Merck & Co. will create 50 to 60 more jobs and will invest about $100 million more than originally planned in its manufacturing complex that's currently under construction in Durham.  The company is boosting its capacity to produce vaccines at the Durham plant and adding the ability to package them in cardboard cartons.  New Jersey-based Merck originally announced in 2004 that it would build a $300 million facility in the area that would employ up to 175.  The additional 115,000 square-foot expansion is expected to be completed in 2010.

December 14, 2006—Merck & Co. will invest $57 million to expand the role its Elkton facility plays in producing GARDASIL, Merck's cervical cancer vaccine.  The investment will include the construction of a new building and the installation of equipment for the purification process—a key stage in manufacturing the product.  Merck recently completed construction of a vaccine fermentation facility at Elkton, which will be used to support an earlier stage in the GARDASIL manufacturing.

December 14, 2006—Waterford Commercial Development of Reston, Va. announced that it will build a $150 million, 640,000 square-foot office complex on 50 acres in the INNOVATION@Prince William Technology Park in Manassas, Va.  The facility is likely to house nine buildings for spin-off companies coming out of George Mason University and other projects connected to the expanding life sciences sector in the region.

October 5, 2006—An attorney for Maryland-based MedImmune argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that the company should be allowed to sue biotech giant Genentech in a patent dispute over methods MedImmune uses to make its blockbuster drug Synagis.  The issue in the oral arguments before the court involves MedImmune's right to sue over the validity of the patent, because MedImmune pays royalty to use it.  A decision is expected by July 2007.

September 29, 2006--The Israeli government has selected Virginia as one of four key life science centers for its annual “Israeli Life Science Road Show III” to take place at the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology, on November 6^th.  According to Virginia officials, 15 Israeli companies are visiting the state because of Virginia's emerging strength in the biosciences arena.    The event will highlight funding opportunities for both Virginia-based and Israel-based life science companies and will promote R&D projects between Israeli and U.S. companies.

September 29, 2006—Adenosine Therapeutics, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, has signed agreements with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the National Institutes of Health to license potentially important technology in the cardiac, cancer, and vaccine fields.  Adenosine focuses on the discovery and development of novel pharmaceutical products that target adenosine receptors in the body.  The company's most advanced drug development program is in Phase III clinical development.

September 29, 2006—Several southern companies are among the 15 selected to present before an audience of venture capitalists and industry professionals at 2006 Mid-Atlantic Bio conference, which will be held Oct. 10-11 in Washington, D.C.  The southern companies presenting include: ACell, Inc. (Jessup, MD); Adenosine Therapeutics (Charlottesville, VA); ALIGN Pharmaceuticals (Cary, NC); Capricor, Inc. (Lutherville, MD); Correlogic Systems, Inc. (Rockville, MD); ION Healthcare (Midlothian, VA); Jenken Biosciences, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC), Lentigen Corporation (Baltimore, MD); MaxCyte, Inc. (Gaithersburg, MD); PluroGen Therapeutics, Inc. (Charlottesville, VA); Traxion Therapeutics Inc. (Baltimore, MD); and Vital Sensors Inc. (Richmond, VA).

September 29, 2006—Living MicroSystems and CellPoint Diagnostics, both headquartered at the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park in Richmond, closed finance rounds totaling more than $26 million in September.  Living MicroSystems is a biomedical products company that utilizes a proprietary rare cell-detection technology to provide noninvasive prenatal screening of chromosomal abnormalities in the first trimester of pregnancy, including Down syndrome.  CellPoint Diagnostics is focusing on the capture and analysis of rare circulating tumor cells from the blood stream of individuals with breast, lung, prostate, or colorectal cancer.

September 28, 2006—Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced a $30 million public-private investment to help the state lure a handful of top nanotechnology researchers.  Perry said the goal is to attract seven or eight of the world's leading scientists and their research teams to work for the new Southwest Academy of Nanoelectronics, which was announced in July 2006 and is being created by the University of Texas System.  Perry stressed that other fields of nanotechnology ranging from medical applications to micromachines, would be part of the research, rather than only nanoelectronics.  The idea is to create a regional center for research and development in nanotech that can grow quickly into commercial applications, Perry added.  The $30 million includes $10 million from Perry's $200 million Texas Emerging Technology Fund, $10 million from the University of Texas System, and $10 million from businesses such as Texas Instruments, Inc.

September 21, 2006—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.  U.S. universities dominated the top 50 of the 683 universities studied.

September 8, 2006--After weighing Maryland and Florida for its new pharmaceutical testing lab, Xceleron has decided that it will invest millions to put its new facilit