The Philadelphia region is getting a third of a $100-million state initiative to fund a "Life Sciences Greenhouse," designed to help bio-tech companies grow.

University of Pennsylvania president Judith Rodin says a life sciences revolution will affect our lives in the next decade more profoundly than the info-tech 90's: "Researchers in new scientific fields like genomics, nanotechnology, proteamomics, bio-engineering, are making extraordinary strides and discoveries." The seed money will make the path from the lab to the marketplace a smoother, shorter one, according to University of Pennsylvania Provost Robert Barchi: "It's an area that typically has been avoided as too risky by the venture capital community. But it's the critical hump over which we must pass, if ideas are going to make it out of academic institutions and have impact commercially." The problem, according to Cephalon CEO Frank Baldino, is that while we have a ton of medical schools, and major pharmaceutical companies are based here, there's been a brain drain because many bio-tech start-up jobs are in Boston and San Diego. He says there's no reason why the Philadelphia region should not be the number one biotech region in the world. The money from the Commonweatlh comes from surplus tobacco-settlement funds.

<< Prev	CIGoutlet.NET News Home	Next >>