Lt. Gov. Applauds Launch of Bioscience Commercialization Center

/PRNewswire/ -- Lt. Governor Casey Cagle today (June 14) joined Georgia Bio, the Georgia Research Alliance, the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Innovation Crescent business community in announcing the launch of the Georgia Bioscience Commercialization Center (GBCC), which will act as a start-up catalyst and resource center for bioscience entrepreneurs in Georgia.

"The Georgia Bioscience Commercialization Center is a first of its kind initiative in Georgia, drawing on the expertise of proven CEOs and senior executives to assist entrepreneurs in growing their potential business and producing jobs," Lt. Gov. Cagle said. "It will serve as an engine for economic growth supporting development of high-paying, 21st century jobs that will stay in Georgia and enhance our state's leadership in bioscience. This innovative mentoring program, as well as the tax credit for investing in early stage entrepreneurial endeavors we just passed this session, means entrepreneurs have a real chance for success in Georgia."

Seed funding for the GBCC was provided by Georgia Bio (GaBio) and the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). The GBCC will be headquartered in the GaBio offices at 1180 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 4150, Atlanta, Ga, 30308.

UCB, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company based in Brussels with U.S. headquarters in Smyrna, served as backdrop for the GBCC launch. UCB President Greg Duncan, a member of the GaBio Board of Directors, said, "The GBCC will help Georgia build that critical mass of companies that is essential in sustaining industry growth and making Georgia an attractive destination for international companies such as UCB."

Laurence Downey, M.D., former President and CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, and Robert Derricotte, President of Medical Marketing Insights LLC, led development of the GBCC and will serve as the primary contacts for the commercialization center.

Dr. Downey, a member of the GaBio Board, said, "The key element of the center's operation is the faculty of experienced bioscience executives who will offer guidance to start-up firms, free-of-charge. These experts are volunteering their time to advance the growth of Georgia's bioscience industry by assisting start-up companies that want to locate in Georgia and by helping scientists at our universities translate their discoveries into new bioscience products. The GBCC is a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs."

The GBCC website (www.GeorgiaBCC.com) also will contain useful "how-to" information, plus links to service providers, event notices, technology transfer opportunities and other resources.

Bryan White, Chairman and Co-founder of apothe-Linx, Inc., is one of the first entrepreneurs to engage the GBCC faculty. "I would not have been able to get my company off the ground without the help of the GBCC experts," White said. "I was amazed at the breadth of the faculty's experience. The GBCC fills an immediate need in Georgia to help entrepreneurs deal with the complexities of starting a company and of advancing their product development."

In addition to GaBio and GRA, other GBCC partners are the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber and other members of the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership, which includes the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Foundation; Atlanta Development Authority; Barrow County Chamber of Commerce; Cobb County Office of Economic Development; DeKalb Private Hospital Authority; Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce; Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce; and the Oconee County Development Authority.

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Georgia Showcases Bioscience Advances at Industry's Top Global Conference

/PRNewswire/ -- Georgia will continue to accelerate the growth of its bioscience industry at the annual BIO International Convention in Chicago, the largest global event for the biotechnology industry. The event attracts the biggest names in biotech and offers key partnering opportunities as well as insights into major trends.

"This strategic industry for the state continues to experience significant growth in the wake of last year's convention in Georgia," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "The research coming out of our universities combined with Georgia's top-notch business environment has generated increased interest from the industry as a result of their heightened exposure over the last year."

Georgia's groundbreaking research, combined with top-ranked universities and a supportive business climate, have propelled the state's development as the crossroads of global health. More than 300 bioscience companies in fields like pharmaceuticals, biotech, diagnostics and bioenergy call Georgia home, making it the most industry-diverse state in the U.S. Southeast. Institutions like Emory University, Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world's top public health agency, keep Georgia in the top 10 states for research and development.

Among the most significant developments following the BIO International Convention, which was held in Georgia for the first time in 2009, was the August announcement by Seattle-based Dendreon Corporation that it would locate a $70 million facility in Union City, Georgia. This plant will manufacture Provenge, an aggressive treatment for prostate cancer that won FDA approval last week. The company is in the process of creating several hundred jobs in Georgia.

Other biotechnology companies recently announcing locations, expansions or funding partnerships in Georgia are Sepmag Technology of Spain (in-vitro medical devices), Iverson Genetics of Washington (genetic testing), Qualtex Labs of Texas (blood testing), Cancer Treatment Centers of America (hospital) and a number of bioenergy-focused enterprises.

Numerous biotechnology companies in the state are developing, testing and implementing ground-breaking discoveries. For example, Georgia-based Geovax Labs, which has licensed and is testing one of the world's most promising therapeutic vaccines for HIV/AIDS, received FDA approval in March to begin Phase 1 clinical trials. The vaccine was created by the Emory Vaccine Center, renowned for its discovery of the breakthrough HIV drug Emtriva. Altea Therapeutics, which is developing a proprietary technology enabling drug delivery, including insulin, through transdermal patches, currently has five products in development and several clinical and preclinical studies underway with pharmaceutical companies.

Georgia universities like the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) are fueling this pipeline with new findings in cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity, immunologic and vision science and children's health. Research funding per basic scientist at MCG ranks second in the nation among similar-sized institutions, and MCG was named among The Scientist magazine's top 15 places in the U.S. to work in academia.

Incubators at MCG and the Georgia Institute of Technology have been recognized by national publications as among the nation's top facilities. Last month Forbes magazine named the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech to its new list of "10 technology incubators that are changing the world." ATDC, one of around 20 state-funded incubators in Georgia, now has more than 300 companies in its program.

Georgia Tech is also a new member of the American Association of Universities (AAU) and joins Emory University as two of just 63 public and private universities inducted into this elite group based on academic and research credentials.

Joining the Georgia Tech-affiliated Technology Enterprise Park and other bioparks around the state in the future will be a public-private "Crossroads Institute for Global Health" at the former Fort McPherson. This 165-plus acre campus will be able to accommodate companies working in vaccines, infectious diseases, neurosciences and other targeted sciences.

Under Governor Perdue's leadership, Georgia has been a leader in improving life sciences education and workforce development. The Governor's Office of Workforce Development has launched a comprehensive program to create an articulated life sciences career pathway from high school to technical colleges to universities; create training for the existing life sciences industry workforce; eliminate the skills gap using Work Ready Certificates and Work Ready job profiling; and increase high school graduation rates through Certified Work Ready Communities.

Georgia's Innovation Crescent, which organized two years ago to focus on the bio-rich cluster identified by Governor Perdue's workforce study, has just announced its formalization as an economic development entity called the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership. The Innovation Crescent is a 13-county region from Atlanta to Athens containing numerous bio-focused colleges and universities, as well as industry leaders like Merial, Ciba Vision and Kimberly-Clarke.

The Innovation Crescent is one of five Georgia Work Ready Regions established to bring together bioscience assets and leaders from multiple counties to create regional talent pools. Other regions include Augusta Bioscience, Bioscience Technology Circle of South Georgia, Renewable Energy Front, and the Southwest Georgia Agribusiness Consortium. To date, Georgia has invested in $2.1 million in developing these regions, their workforces and industry networks.

Professionals at Georgia Quick Start, the state's program for customized workforce training, has deep experience in FDA-regulated process and has helped many major pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in Georgia find, assess and train team members. A recent example is the customized, 20,000-training hours program Quick Start developed for 400 workers at the new world laboratory headquarters of Quintiles, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.

Georgia's Center of Innovation for Life Sciences (http://lifesciences.georgiainnovation.org/), part of a network of six Centers of Innovation aligned with the state's strategic industries, makes it easier for early-stage companies to thrive by connecting entrepreneurs and emerging companies around Georgia to industry experts and university research in order to accelerate innovation and commercialization. To complement its work, the public-private Georgia Bioscience Commercialization Center has launched a Web site, www.georgiabcc.com, that will likewise give entrepreneurs access to mentoring assistance from company CEOs and university faculty.

At last year's BIO conference, Georgia debuted a first-of-its kind searchable database called iResearchGeorgia, a partnership between the state and academia. Managed and funded by the Georgia Research Alliance, the online database connects innovative companies with Georgia's top bioscience experts, intellectual property assets and much more. (www.gra.org)

iResearch is just one focus of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), whose existence is a testament to the unified commitment of industry, government and academia in Georgia to grow a technology-based economy. The GRA has recruited over 60 eminent, enterprising scientists to the state, developed 28 nationally recognized Centers of Excellence, and helped leverage $2.6 billion in federal and private investment.

Georgia's 2009 No. 1 ranking for entrepreneurial activity by the Kauffman Foundation attests the strong regional entrepreneurial culture. The state continues to develop a compelling environment for such companies to grow and succeed.

The Centers for Innovation program helped sponsor the Venture Atlanta conference last fall, which drew nearly 500 people and attracted more than 100 VCs from top firms around the country to hear investment opportunities from 21 Georgia companies. More than $410 million in venture capital was invested in Georgia in 2008, ranking the state 14th in the country.

Support for biotech entrepreneurs has also increased in the state with the 2009 implementation of a revised Research & Development tax credit that is tied to the federal calculation and can also be used against payroll withholding. Small, innovative companies now have a longer time period and greater opportunity to position themselves for success.

Other financial incentives for the industry are the Advanced Technology Development (ATDC) Seed Capital Fund, which has invested about $4.6 million since 2004 into life science companies in Georgia that have raised nearly $58 million in total capital, and the Georgia Research Alliance Venture Capital Fund, which provides $30 million of seed and early stage capital for companies growing research coming out of Georgia's universities. Bio companies can also benefit from the Quality Jobs Tax Credit, created in 2009, which rewards companies who create jobs paying higher-than-average wages for the community in which they locate, and has a component that can be monetized against employee withholding taxes.

The bioscience industry in Georgia created almost 18,000 jobs in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available. According to other statistics from the "Shaping Infinity" report released by Georgia BIO, the industry was responsible for the creation of more than 62,000 jobs in Georgia, created $16 billion in output and contributed $6.2 billion to the state GDP as well as $517 million in tax revenues for state and local governments. In addition, life sciences research at the state's colleges and universities generated $1.3 billion in output and nearly 15,000 jobs in fiscal year 2006.

"The high-wage jobs created by this industry generate economic growth in Georgia and help drive the innovation so necessary to success in the global marketplace," said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. "Our participation in this conference is a key component to our long-term strategy to raise Georgia's profile in this sector and attract companies and venture capital to the state."

The state is hosting 12 Georgia universities, companies and agencies in its exhibit hall booth this year, including Aderans Research, Altea Therapeutics, Emory University, Georgia Bio, Georgia Innovation Crescent, Georgia Tech, Georgia Quick Start, Georgia Work Ready, GeoVax Labs, Medical College of Georgia, Morehouse School of Medicine and Shionogi & Co., Ltd.

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Georgia Biosciences to Draw International Attention at Industry’s Top Gathering

Today after concluding a successful inaugural SEUS-Canadian Provinces Alliance Conference in Savannah, Governor Sonny Perdue will now turn his attention to the 2008 BIO International Convention in San Diego. Georgia’s biosciences industry, ranked seventh in the country, will draw an international spotlight at the convention on June 17 – 20, as a high-powered group of the state’s top biosciences officials, headed by Governor Perdue, meets with industry leaders from around the globe. Governor Perdue will deliver remarks during a June 19 keynote luncheon featuring General Colin Powell.

“As one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation, the biosciences sector is a strategic priority for Georgia and a driving force behind our future growth,” said Governor Perdue. “Our leadership in university-based research, strong biosciences talent, a spirit of collaboration as evidenced by very effective public-private partnerships and global access to international capital markets truly position Georgia as the crossroads of global health.”

Researchers from Georgia’s pre-eminent institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emory University and the University of Georgia, along with representatives from Georgia companies, will participate in a number of panels discussing key global health issues, such as pandemics, antibiotic-resistant staph infections, diabetes treatment and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

As one of the event’s presenting (“Double Helix”) sponsors, Georgia will host a 3,300 square-foot pavilion, which includes 28 exhibitors representing Georgia’s wide breadth of bioscience companies, research institutions and state agencies. Among them are Altea Therapeutics; Solvay Pharmaceuticals; UCB, Inc.; Georgia Tech; the Medical College of Georgia; the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD); the CDC; Georgia BIO; and Georgia Quick Start. In addition to boosting Georgia’s visibility at the convention, the sponsorship gives the state greater access to chief executives and other decision-makers through a variety of events and meetings.

The 2008 BIO International Convention will set an attendance record, hosting more than 20,000 participants, one-third of them from outside the U.S. More than 70 nations will be represented, and more than 500 members of the press will attend. Keynote speakers include General Colin Powell, Neil Cavuto of Fox News and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. More than 1,500 of the world’s top biosciences companies will attend the conference, as well as more than 2,200 exhibiting organizations. The convention will draw an estimated $83 million in economic impact to the San Diego area.

“The BIO International Convention is a magnet for industry leaders and an unparalleled opportunity to showcase Georgia’s rich biosciences assets,” said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “We will maximize the opportunities the conference presents to grow the biosciences sector in Georgia both this year and next, when the convention comes to Atlanta for the first time.”

Bioscience is one of Georgia’s strategic industries targeted for growth. Georgia has achieved what few other states have been able to do in a short period of time: establish a critical mass of bioscience companies. Ernst & Young’s “Shaping Infinity” study ranked Georgia 11th in 2001, and seventh in 2006 – a rating the state retains today. Also between 2001 and 2006, the number of bioscience establishments increased by 38.3 percent, compared to 13.8 percent average for all industries in Georgia, and employment jumped by 11.3 percent compared to four percent for all industry average. Total wages also surpassed the state’s average, increasing by over 38.4 percent versus a 19.5 percent increase in the state’s economy as a whole. Salaries in the life sciences average $57,683, while state average for all industries is $39,506.

Georgia is home to the CDC, CARE, the Carter Center, the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation and 270 bioscience companies.

The state offers robust public-private partnerships in bioscience, including the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), through which the State’s six research universities collaborate to create, improve and grow science and technology-based companies. Additionally, Georgia boasts a strong talent pool, with the nation’s highest growth in market share of college-educated 25-to-34 year-olds and one of the largest state university systems in the country, graduating 44,000 students each year.

In May 2008, Georgia established a 25 percent tax credit for investing in the newly-created GRA venture fund, thereby encouraging investments in local start-ups and strengthening the state’s venture capital environment.

For more information on Georgia’s bioscience industry and its presence at BIO 2008 and 2009, visit www.georgiabiosciences.com.