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Abstract
North Carolina's Research Triangle Park provides opportunities for young scientists and entrepreneurs. Support and collaboration from universities, industry, and government have produced a thriving biotechnology community.
Despite recent cuts in funding for academic research positions in biology, related opportunities in biotechnology seem to be expanding. One place where they appear to be flourishing is North Carolina's Research Triangle Park (RTP), an extensive office complex set in a 6,900-acre pine forest in the "Research Triangle" between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Duke University in Durham, and North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
Nearly 40 years ago, in 1959, representatives from business, academia, and industry set up RTP "to provide an economic development initiative that would attract companies doing world-class research and development in growing scientific areas." A handful of companies and government agencies chose to locate there. The number of businesses grew to 21 by 1969 and now is about 100, ranging from start-ups with skeleton staffs to multinational corporate giants such as Glaxo Wellcome, Bayer, and Rhône-Poulenc.
Over half these companies are considered dedicated biotechnology companies, with employee rolls ranging from 1 to 160, and research and development efforts running the gamut from medical drugs and diagnostics to forestry and agriculture. Even the large companies that form the historical backbone of RTP are now involved in supporting start-up efforts that stem from patentable research, offering everything from seed money to laboratory space and joint venture capital.
The attractions of these new opportunities have not been lost on students in the biological sciences. Even 20 years ago, those opting for industry over the academic laboratory were widely viewed with suspicion or even contempt. Now, though, students entering these fields may well look forward to commercial rewards and sometimes even fame as inventors.
The universities from which the biotech entrepreneurs come are also eager to embrace this new development, since it benefits them as well as their faculty members. The R and D climate in RTP has reached what is often referred to these days as a "critical mass" of talented investigators backed by industrial and academic support.
A third component in the mix is an organization known as the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. A private, nonprofit corporation funded by the state's general assembly, the center offers assistance and financial support to emerging companies based in North Carolina. Since 1986, it has provided close to $6 million to 46 biotechnology and related bioscience companies - and those companies have gone on to obtain over $330 million from other public and private sources.
The center recently awarded $7.5 million to establish the North Carolina Bioscience Investment Fund under the management of the Durham venture capital firm Eno River Capital. The firm has begun approaching such North Carolina institutions as NationsBank, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and Quintiles - one of the largest contract research organizations in the world - for matching funds and continues to raise capital for the investment fund, according to Eno River's managing member Daniel Egger.
The Biotechnology Center takes the view that "contrary to its name, biotechnology is not a single technology. Rather, it is a group of technologies that share two things in common: they manipulate living cells and their molecules, and they have a wide range of practical uses . . . there are many techniques of biotechnology. The main ones are genetic engineering, cell culture, tissue culture, bioprocessing, protein engineering, monoclonal antibody production, and antisense technology."
Center president Charles E. Hamner says its goals are to support education and technology transfer and to develop technologies within the state. Bioprocessing companies are being encouraged because they produce jobs. Start-up companies "are good targets for Ph.D. graduates, who will prosper in research and development" in such enterprises, according to Hamner.
In Hamner's view, biotechnology in the RTP area is just moving from its initial innovative phase into a phase of "exponential growth that offers huge new opportunities for research and manufacturing," and is likely to generate up to 100,000 local jobs.
The Biotechnology Center also used to sponsor a fellowship program intended to attract "the best and the brightest" students to North Carolina for graduate work, but discontinued it in 1993 "when we realized we didn't need it - we already had those students," says the center's Barry Teater.
The three universities involved in RTP since its inception - UNC, Duke, and NC State - are all actively working to move research discoveries out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Since 1995, for example, UNC has spun off four new companies that have, to date, contributed 58 new jobs, notes Francis J. Meyer, associate vice provost for technological development and director of the Office of Technology Development at UNC.
Mark Crowell, associate vice chancellor for technology transfer and industry outreach at NC State, points out that the interests of incoming students are already changing in line with the new entrepreneurial climate. "There are fewer and fewer academic jobs, and the number of students entering Ph.D. programs who want to be academics is getting lower and lower," he says.
Gregory Mossinghoff, vice president for corporate development at Inspire Pharmaceuticals, a Durham-based company whose original research platform was licensed from UNC, says he's with the company in part because "once you've started doing this, there aren't any greener pastures. This is it! It's very interesting because it's high risk and high return and there are lots of talented people." Inspire is working with neuropeptides that affect cell receptors in the lung and mucous membranes, and hold promise for diagnosis and treatment of such conditions as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and "dry eye syndrome" - a problem that affects up to 16 million people.
Mossinghoff, who has a business background, notes that at Inspire, "we'd love to get really aggressive post-docs who are entrepreneurial and sharp and are ready to come into a company." He says his company just hired its first molecular biologist. "You don't need to understand how to develop drugs, as long as you know molecular biology and high-throughput screening techniques," he adds.
In RTP, investigators from a host of disciplines and institutions find it relatively easy to interact with each other. They may meet at conferences at the Biotechnology Center, or more informally.
"We live together, we work together, we participate in the same cultural and civic functions," notes Andrew E. Balber, associate director of Duke's Office of Science and Technology. Balber, who worked as a parasitic immunologist before coming to the Research Triangle, notes that the mixture of resources in the areas means "it makes good sense to come here." Since moving into technology transfer after first coming south for a sabbatical, "I know a lot more science, because I've moved a lot of things through from the lab to the bedside," Balber says.
There is "clearly good-natured competition" and collaboration among the three universities, points out Crowell. He cites one example in which medical researchers at Duke studying a vitamin C-based sunscreen wound up cooperating with North Carolina College of Veterinary Medicine investigators because they needed an animal model for testing - and pigs, which incidentally are currently one of the state's biggest cash-producing products, turned out to be the best model available.
Teater points out that North Carolina's mild climate and easy access to ocean and mountains also attract talented people to the area. Although RTP itself is strictly for business, it is close to Chapel Hill and to Raleigh, which offer a mixture of sophisticated and small-town amenities that sometimes surprises newcomers. Good theater, an active music scene, and pleasant restaurants that don't charge big-city prices are just a few of them. Fishing and boating are only a few minutes away. Such nationally renowned events as the American Dance Festival are held in Durham, and a burgeoning movie industry is just a couple of hours south in Wilmington.
Complaints about traffic, although common, bring a bemused reaction or a chuckle from those used to other parts of the country, such as the heavily developed Northeast Corridor. The desperately bored can always head for Lizard Lick, or a tour of the Mount Olive pickle factory and gift shop, or develop an interest in stock-car racing.
From the private-sector perspective, one basic reason for supporting and encouraging start-up biotechnology efforts in the Research Triangle is relatively simple: promoting industry growth. For example, Becton Dickinson, a producer of medical supplies and devices, plans to double its overall growth over five years. It has recently begun recruiting start-up companies related to health care to use what it calls "incubator space." Jonathon Lawrie, director of business development, says the company recently screened over 50 companies to select a handful of early-stage start-up operations. They will be offered funding of up to $100,000 per year for six months to two years, as well as laboratory space at Becton Dickinson's RTP facility. Up to one-third of the facility's 100,000 square feet can be used, and the company's eventual goal is to incubate 30 companies, Lawrie says. Each company has different needs and will have different arrangements, but those selected will have use of sophisticated and expensive equipment like electron microscopes and mass spectrometers as well as basics such as centrifuges, autoclaves, sterilizers, water baths, and the like. Becton Dickinson's viewpoint is that establishing partnerships with new companies is the best strategy for accomplishing company growth.
"Not every experiment works," Lawrie points out, but growth depends on innovative ideas, "not just making sharper needles."
Echoing this, venture capitalist Daniel Egger comments that nine out of ten new ventures flop. In a typical 10-year portfolio, "you can expect one will succeed, two or three companies will be sold, two or three will break even, and two or three will be complete write-offs," he says. The high uncertainty factor is what drives investors to spread out risk by purchasing percentages of company ownership.
"We specialize in seed-stage companies, and like to invest at the earliest stage, when inventors are looking at patent filings and don't have a company yet," Egger says.
It's clear that the lure of that 10% success rate is enough to attract attention in the RTP area. Over at NC State, one technology transfer success, "Easy Eggs," earns the university about $1.5 million per year. Its patent - for a packaging technique that allows eggs to be marketed without refrigeration - was termed "just short of revolutionary" by Crowell. Other projects have ranged from work with blue lasers and LEDs to applications in plant and animal biology, such as a plant system used to express proteins that may eventually be used as drugs. According to the Biotechnology Center's Teater, possibilities are limited "only by the imagination and enterprise of the scientists who use and develop biotechnology."
Susan Volkmar is a freelance writer in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, Science News, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and Smithsonian magazine.
Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, Bookseller, and New Statesman.
BIO Online - biotechnology information, including a career discussion group, career-related articles, and corporate information and job listings.
Institute for Biotechnology Information - biotechnology and pharmaceutical business information and consulting services.
Biotechnology Public Education Program - a collection of biotechnology resources for education, research, and technology transfer. Sponsored by Iowa State University.
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