U.S. biotech faces fierce international competition

Scientific American recently selected the top five countries in the world for their ability to foster biotechnology based on a few key criteria, and the results may surprise you. The magazine focused on intellectual property and the ability to protect IP; biotech "intensity," which includes R&D spending; enterprise support, including the availability of venture capital; the expertise of the workforce available for hire and finally the overall quality of the country's biotech...

Report: China readies $1.5B plan to bolster biotech

In a bid to break out of its dependence on manufacturing and cheap labor, the Chinese government is planning to invest $1.5 billion into new drug development between 2011 and 2016. And biotechnology is one of seven emerging industries that the Asian powerhouse will use to spearhead the next big step in its economic development, according to a report in China's 21st Century Business Herald. The National Development and Reform Commission is leading the effort on biotech, according to the business...

Ireland mulls $6B biopharma center

Irish media outlets are reporting that plans are in the works for a massive pharmaceutical "center of excellence" in Tralee in County Kerry. The $6 billion project could create up to 4,800 jobs R&D and manufacturing; 116 spots for academic professionals, 321 jobs for corporate management executives and 4,380 graduate student positions, according to the Irish Examiner. Cork-based pharma company Pharmadel is driving the project, with Anglo Irish Bank chairman Alan...

UMB plots $675M biotech park expansion

University of Maryland Baltimore leaders are asking the city's architecture review board to approve a $675 million expansion of the UMB BioPark--a move that would triple the size of the planned project. At the moment the site has two research buildings with 470,000 square feet of space, and a third building will open its doors later this year. The BioPark already counts Alba Therapeutics, Gliknik, FASgen, Biomere, and Fyodor Biotechnologies among its tenants, according to the...

MD governor touts a booming biotech biz, new jobs

While the overall economy may be flagging, Maryland says that its biotech industry is booming. And the governor wants to keep the momentum going with a few new industry incentives. Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters that the biotech industry added more than a thousand jobs in the last three months; that's 10 percent of the state's total tally of new jobs. And he touted a report from Battelle Technology Partnership Practice claiming that the state's biotech industry has been expanding...

Mass. approves $1B biotech project

Massachusetts officials have green-lighted a $1 billion, five-building biotech center near Kendall Square in Cambridge. Binney Street Project, as it is known, will boast about 1.72 million square feet of office/laboratory space and other mixed uses. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which is overseeing the project, said that all five facilities will be LEED certifiable, and Alexandria will preserve historic buildings already present on the 11.3-acre site. The new labs will be located...

Italian prime minister invests in biotechs

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has burnished his reputation as someone who likes to act much younger than most 73-year-olds. Now he's backing two biotech companies that are pursuing new therapies to slow or reverse the effects of aging as well fight cancer. He now owns a large chunk of Milan-based Molecular Medicine and has invested in San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, which is building a new R&D center to study new anti-aging drugs....

Minnesota promotes ‘sweet’ tax credits

Minnesota delegates gave away bags of chocolate at last week's BIO convention to advertise the state's "sweet" new tax credit for angel investors in unproven businesses. The state has to compete with neighbor Wisconsin, which has attracted a great deal of biotech business with a similar tax...

Montgomery County pushes $10B biotech ‘science city’

A group of officials from Johns Hopkins University is joining forces with a group of biotech business leaders in the state to move ahead today with plans to build a $10 billion, 17.5 million-square-feet R&D "science city" in Maryland's Montgomery County. The county council is expected to endorse the ambitious project, which would go a long way toward making the county a biotech hub that could rival the likes of Palo Alto. County Executive Isiah Leggett, meanwhile, is in...

Live From BIO: FierceBiotech sits down with Scottish Enterprise

CHICAGO - Monday at BIO, FierceBiotech sat down with Rhona Allison, director of Scottish Enterprise, a government agency tasked with economic development, to discuss what is going on life sciences in that country. Over the last six years, Scotland's life sciences industry has grown considerably. Currently, there are more than 630 life sciences organizations operating in Scotland. And the sector employs more than 32,500 staffers. The University of Aberdeen recently received of £2.6...