Here in Minnesota, I am hoping for the biotech park. It has been reported that Steven Burrill has a "firm commitment" for $1B to back biotech park
The following article in part was in fiercebiotech.com :
'After facing a rising level of skepticism in Minnesota over the fate of his plans for a billion-dollar biotech park, the high-profile G. Steven Burrill tells the hometown newspaper in Minneapolis that he's oh-so-close to getting the financing lined up for the audacious development.
"We have a firm commitment for that billion dollars from a single investor," Burrill tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "We have made a lot of progress recently, and we're optimistic that we'll get it done." Burrill, who works with a global network of investment groups, adds he's in negotiations with a sovereign wealth fund--which he declined to identify.'
Fiercebiotech.com also recently reported that NIH Chief Francis Collins is getting a 'little frustrated'. Here is the article in part:
'Pronouncing himself "a little frustrated" with pharma's apparent inability to rapidly follow up on scientific breakthroughs with a new generation of therapeutics, NIH chief Francis Collins is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to create a new center for translational medicine that will do some of the early-stage work for the drug development industry.
Collins' plan, endorsed by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and outlined over the weekend by the New York Times, is to bring together $700 million in R&D work under one roof at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, where government scientists will pursue a billion dollars in funding to push the projects through the Valley of Death. Collins' blueprint calls for scientists to get enough proof-of-concept data in hand to whet pharma's appetite, spurring them to step in and finish the discovery work needed to obtain an approval.'
Hopefully we can all work together to make the biotech in Minnesota happen soon, to help with scientific breakthroughs.