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“It’s tough to figure out where to put money these days,” Treasurer Janet Cowell told NCBIO members as she discussed the State’s investment strategies for 2009. Cowell took the oath of office for her new position on January 10th, and since then has been reviewing the operations of the Department of the State Treasurer.
Norris Tolson, Janet Cowell, Sam Taylor and Art Pappas
Cowell told members that she welcomed their input and thoughts on the State’s private equity portfolio, noting there are limits on what North Carolina can do as far as investments. She said she plans to work with the 2009 General Assembly on how to expand North Carolina’s investments in private equity. Cowell also said she has plans for outreach efforts designed to increase investments in North Carolina -- particularly by large out-of-state funds.
Treasurer Cowell indicated that she is collecting ideas for state stimulus models that might help invigorate North Carolina’s economy. While Cowell has had no direct involvement in efforts at the national level on a stimulus package, she has talked with Governor Perdue on the use of stimulus money that might be coming to North Carolina.
More than 70 NCBIO members turned out to hear Treasurer Cowell’s comments. NCBIO members will get another chance to find out about the State’s economic picture and the work of the 2009 General Assembly on March 26th, when the Organization hosts its Annual Legislative Breakfast. The event will begin at 7:30 am in the legislative cafeteria at the General Assembly Building in Raleigh. If you want to attend, please let Jennifer Fong know by March 23rd.
North Carolina lawmakers have begun work to address an estimated $2 billion shortfall in the State’s budget. Governor Beverly Perdue has called for State agencies to recommend cuts of seven percent or more to help cover the funding shortfall in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Legislators also expect to have to make do with substantially lower tax collections in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
In view of the projected revenue shortfalls, NCBIO has developed a legislative agenda that emphasizes programs with minimal impact on the 2009-11 State budget biennium. These proposals include:
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Founder’s Credit – A capital gains tax exclusion for stock purchased in start-up companies after January 1, 2010. Under the proposal investors and founders in companies qualifying under the State’s existing Qualified Business Venture Tax Credit program would be eligible for the exclusion. Like the current QBV credit, brokered purchases and interests acquired by way of pass-through entities with more than $5 million under management would not be eligible for the exclusion.
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Life Science Development Corporation – A new $100 million loan fund to help finance construction of new first-product facilities for life science products. Eligible companies would include firms pioneering new biomanufactured products, personalized medicine, laboratory testing and clinical research offerings. Loans would be made at the rate of 10-11% and capped at $20 million. Funding for the loan program would come from private investors whose equity contributions and preferred dividends would be guaranteed by state income, franchise and premium taxes.
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SBIR Matching Grants – Restore funding for the One North Carolina Small Business Program to $5 million annually. The program, which matches a federal SBIR grants with up to $100,000 in State funds, received only $3.5 million in State funding in the 2008-09 fiscal year, down $1.5 million from when the program was launched in 2005.
“Battelle Corporation’s recent analysis of North Carolina’s life science economy shows that entities in this sector contribute more than $45 billion to our State’s economy and employ nearly 50,000 people,” said Sam Taylor, President of NCBIO. “North Carolina has every reason to continue investing in the life sciences – and NCBIO is dedicated to keeping our industry’s needs front-and-center with legislators.”
NCBIO has completed work on a preliminary business plan for a new non-profit organization to promote the growth of North Carolina’s advanced medical technologies (AMT) sector. The plan was filed with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in January, along with a request for $2.5 million in start-up funding for the proposed AMT Center. Funding for the new entity would come from NCBC’s Centers of Innovation program.
The preliminary business plan calls for the new Center to emphasize creation of advanced medical technologies companies, improving AMT companies access to specialized talent and services, and attracting new AMT companies and investors to the State. The proposed Center would match the Biotechnology Center’s financial support one-for-one over the first four years of its operations and would be financially self-sustaining in its fifth and subsequent years.
“North Carolina has a small but robust core of advanced medical technologies companies already doing business in the State,” said Sam Taylor, President of NCBIO. “We believe that these companies, combined with strong scientific and technical programs in biomedical engineering and other, potentially convergent technologies, can eventually make North Carolina a nationally recognized center for advanced medical technologies discovery and commercialization.”
The Biotechnology Center is scheduled to decide in March whether to provide the requested launch funding for the new AMT Center. In the meantime, NCBIO has launched a national search for the proposed Center’s founding executive. Persons interested in applying for this position should contact Sam Taylor.
Leaders from throughout North Carolina’s agriculture and agribusiness sectors are meeting under the leadership of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to develop a comprehensive strategic vision for biotechnology in North Carolina agriculture. The group, which met in December 2008 and January 2009, is reviewing resources, trends and issues of importance to AgBiotech.
Chaired by former North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt and North Carolina Biotechnology Center Senior Vice President Steven Burke, the project’s steering committee is expected to complete its work in the first half of 2009. The steering committee will be supported in its work by a series of working groups organized to address specific aspects of North Carolina’s AgBiotech future, including animal biotechnology, crops and biomass, niche and specialty crops, farming and rural advantage, and issues and implications. For more information on the initiative, contact Sam Taylor.
The North Carolina General Assembly’s Environmental Review Commission has received a report and recommendations from the North Carolina Institute of Government regarding proposed changes to State water allocation laws. The recommendations call for expanded permitting requirements for surface and groundwater withdrawals, river-basin based water budgeting, renewed emphasis on water conservation and efficiency, and refinements in State water rights law.
NCBIO responded to legislators’ request for comments regarding the proposed study in January. The Organization suggested that North Carolina’s existing capacity use statutes would serve as a better starting point for water allocation policy reform than the permitting and budgeting recommendations recommended by the Institute. For more information on the report, as well as NCBIO’s analysis and comments, contact Sam Taylor.
Frederick Frank, vice chairman of Barclays Capital and Michael Baldock, founding partner of Quattro Partners, LLP, will join a panel on financing at CED's 18th Annual Biotech Conference. Biotech 2009 will be held February 16-17 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The event is co-hosted by NCBIO and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Frank and Baldock have both provided investment banking services to many companies in the pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotech sectors, including HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Epix Pharmaceuticals, Bentley Health Care and many more. Other featured speakers will include: Biogen Idec President and CEO James Mullen; UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp; Quintiles Transnational Chairman and CEO Dennis Gillings; BIO President and CEO James Greenwood; Duke University Health System President and CEO Dr. Victor Dzau; and 2007 Nobel Prize winner and Excellence Professor at UNC-CH, Dr. Oliver Smithies.
Register before February 11 to save up to $125. To become a sponsor of this year’s event, call Stephanie Dorko at 919-549-7500 x126 or email sponsorship@cednc.org.
 NCBIO encourages members to attend the annual BIO Legislative Fly-In in Washington, D.C. This event gives members an opportunity to meet with our Congressional Delegation about issues of interest to the life science community.
BIO will host a briefing and a reception beginning at 4:30 pm, March 31st at the Four Points Sheraton in Washington, DC. On April 1st participants will meet with members of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation.
Click here to register on line or get a printable version of the registration form. Also please let Jennifer Fong know if you plan to attend the event so NCBIO President Sam Taylor can contact you about specific North Carolina activities.
The 2009 BIO International Convention will bring approximately 20,000 attendees to the Georgia World Congress Center, in Atlanta, Georgia, May 18-21. Along with BIO staff, volunteers are essential to the success of the convention.
Individuals volunteering at the BIO 2009 convention will receive a complimentary one-day conference registration for each day they volunteer. BIO is requesting that all participants volunteer for two days.
Please click here to fill out the online application. The deadline to submit an application is March 16, 2009. For more information about BIO’s 2009 International Convention Volunteer Program, please contact volunteer@bio.org.
In partnership with Burrill & Company, NCBIO is offering members the opportunity to pre-purchase Biotech 2009-Life Sciences: Navigating The Sea Change. It is available in print or electronic format, with a bundle option available as well. A portion of each purchase will be earmarked to support NCBIO programs and initiatives. Don’t miss this opportunity to get must-read industry information by G. Steven Burrill and support North Carolina’s life science trade association. Click for Print Only, for Electronic, or for Print and Electronic Version.
Please have your organization’s media/marketing coordinator send news about your company to Brenda Summers - bsummers@ncbioscience.org
Athenix and DuPont have entered into a research collaboration to improve insect control in corn and soybeans. Under the agreement, DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred will use proprietary insect resistance trait genes from Athenix to develop and commercialize next-generation corn and soybean seed products. “Development of new traits for insect control is important not only to provide growers with enhanced options but also to solve the challenges of resistance management. We are pleased to be working with an industry leader like Pioneer to bring Athenix’ novel insect control options to the market,” said Mike Koziel, chief executive officer at Athenix.
Entegrion has added Peter C. Johnson, MD, as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, to its leadership team. Dr. Johnson brings his unique background in surgery, thrombosis biology, corporate management and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Entegrion, Dr. Johnson was the Founder, President and CEO of Scintellix, LLC, a highly successful biomedical technology and decision analysis consultancy in Raleigh, NC.
Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announces it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) on the design of a Phase 3 clinical trial for Prolacria(TM) (diquafosol tetrasodium ophthalmic solution) 2% for the treatment of dry eye disease and has recently initiated enrollment in the trial. Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Inspire, commented, "We are pleased to have reached agreement with the FDA on the parameters for an additional Prolacria clinical trial. The dry eye market is large and growing, with only one commercially available prescription product; our analysis of related Prolacria historical data in the central region of the cornea; and the length and estimated costs of this trial are reasonable relative to the financial opportunity."
Novartis has announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (HHS, BARDA) has awarded Novartis Vaccines a contract for up to $486 million over eight years to support the design, construction, validation, and licensing of U.S. cell-based influenza vaccine manufacturing facilities in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The contract will provide a pre-pandemic supply of influenza vaccine and capacity to manufacture 150 million doses of pandemic vaccine within six months of declaration of an influenza pandemic.
Under the contract, Novartis is responsible for, among other things, pre-construction document development, land use and zoning, construction, commissioning, validation and licensing of the facilities (which are already under construction in Holly Springs, North Carolina), with the goals of regulatory licensure, manufacture and release of seasonal and pre-pandemic vaccine, as well as provision for pandemic vaccine supply in the event of a pandemic. The contract also requires Novartis to provide two commercial-scale annual lots of pre-pandemic vaccine for a minimum of three years. In addition, HHS has the right to exercise options to purchase additional influenza vaccine over 17 years.
TCG, LLC, has announced that it has established ROTEM, Inc., in Durham to introduce the German firm’s innovative Thromboelastrometry (TBE) system to the US market. ROTEM, a spin-out from Pentapharm, markets innovative solutions for the diagnosis and monitoring of acute haemostasis disorders in 40 countries around the globe. The product line measures critical coagulation parameters on site, and is also a valuable tool for research in hemostasis and any treatments influencing it. At present, the system is available at 30 leading US research sites “for research use only” not for surgical or clinical monitoring.
To handle ROTEM and the growth of the Riemser Dental regenerative business, TCG has moved to expanded offices at 1009 Slater Road in the Imperial Center. In addition, Jim Woodward has joined TCG as a Principal. Jim has 25 years of experience in both private and public companies in cardiovascular devices, healthcare services and wound care, recently serving as CEO of Encell, Inc., before successfully leading their acquisition by Pioneer Surgical Technologies (PST).
 BIO to Give Humanitarian Award
BIO is asking the biotech community to nominate innovators who have made a an outstanding contribution towards improving the human condition. The Biotech Humanitarian Award winner will be recognized at the 2009 BIO International Convention in Atlanta and will receive $10,000.
Every year, biotechnology is responsible for countless breakthroughs that improve the lives of others, yet few people realize the impact biotechnology has on humanity. The new award will recognize an everyday hero who has improved the lives of others by harnessing the power of biotechnology to help feed, fuel and heal the planet. The Biotech Humanitarian Award will celebrate the impact biotechnology has had on food and agriculture, industrial and environmental, and therapeutic sectors.
"So many people become involved in biotechnology because they want to help others, by working to discover a cure for a rare or serious disease or to address challenges as diverse as global warming and agricultural sustainability," said Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of BIO. "This award celebrates the accomplishments of the real-life heroes behind the science of biotechnology."
Nominations are open to anyone in the biotechnology industry including advocates, scientists, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, financiers, philanthropists, educators and others. Nominations can be made online and must be submitted by April 15, 2009.
February 16-17, 2009. CED’s 18th annual Biotech Conference unites the Southeast's life science community to celebrate one of the biotechnology industry’s most dynamic regions. This two-day conference includes world-class speakers, a variety of panels on industry topics and trends, and networking opportunities with life science leaders. For more information.
March 16, 2009. CED's Biotech Forum: Emerging Opportunities. Join biotech entrepreneurs, industry executives, research leaders, services providers and investors at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, RTP, NC. For more information.
May 14, 2009. CED's Medtech 2009 Conference, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC. For more information.
May 18-21, 2009. BIO International Convention, Atlanta, GA. For more information.
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NCBIO This Month
