WEEKLY E-NEWS FROM THE NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

IN FOCUS FEATURE

Biotechnology Center Recruit Turns Nobel Prize Winner

From Our Web Site

INC Research to Add 1,100 Jobs
INC Research, a clinical research organization in Raleigh, plans to add up to 1,100 new jobs by 2011 with some help from the State of North Carolina.

BioNetwork Funds Biofuels Education Programs
Central Carolina Community College received two BioNetwork grants totaling $140,917 from the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges.

U.S. Government Supports Entegrion with $2M
Entegrion of Research Triangle Park received a $2 million federal award to continue developing its infusible hemostatic agent, Stasix, to control internal hemorrhage in trauma and surgical applications.

Register to Access ScienceDirect Journals
The Biotechnology Center's Library and Information Services is coordinating a consortium to provide desktop access to Elsevier B.V.'s Corporate Edition of ScienceDirect full-text scientific journals.

In Focus

Biotechnology Center Recruit Turns Nobel Prize Winner

During the last 20-plus years, the Biotechnology Center's Faculty Recruitment Grant program has invested $9.6 million in bringing 51 world-class researchers to the state's universities.

The scientists sought as part of that program have collectively returned $362.8 million to the state's economy. This week, one of the recruits added a Nobel Prize to the list of accomplishments.

On Monday, the The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced Oliver Smithies and two other scientists as the recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for 2007.

The Biotechnology Center's news and publications editor, Jim Shamp, spoke with Smithies this week on his prize, his research and his recruitment to North Carolina.

Read the full story.

News From Other Sites

Dara Biosciences to merge with Point Therapeutics
"The deal is expected to close in the first quarter 2008 and create a Point Therapeutics subsidiary that plans to focus its research efforts to develop treatments for diabetes, neuropathic pain, dermatologic disorders and oncology."
From the (Raleigh) News and Observer

Will Quintiles go Public?
"Numbers are dear to Dennis Gillings, and the founder and chief executive of Quintiles Transnational doesn't like sharing many of them."
From the (Raleigh) News and Observer

Raleigh Hedge Fund (Hatteras Investment Partners) Raising $500M
"Hatteras Investment Partners, largest among only a handful of Raleigh-based hedge funds, will hit more than $1 billion under management as it leaps into a new type of investing."
From the Triangle Business Journal

Medical Device Startup Sees Potential in Organ Transplant Technology
"Smart Perfusion is currently conducting animal trials of its organ transport technology at Virginia Tech and has met with representatives of the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem, and of Gateway University Research Park and the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship in Greensboro about locating company operations there."
From the Triad Business Journal

GlaxoSmithKline Makes Billion-Dollar Deal on Skin Cancer Drug
"Synta, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., will receive an upfront payment of $80 million from Glaxo, which is headquartered in London and employs 6,000 people in the Triangle."
From the Triangle Business Journal

Community Watch

• Salix Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh has licensed exclusive rights to market OSMOPREP Tablets in France to Mayoly–Spindler S.A.S of Chatou, France.
• Skin cancer specialists at the Southeastern Medical Oncology Center in Goldsboro are recruiting patients in the Raleigh-Durham area into a large Phase 3 study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Allovectin-7, an investigational product for advanced melanoma being developed by Vical of San Diego.
• Morrisville-based ParagonDx provided genetic testing of attendees of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development Tech 07 conference in Chapel Hill Oct. 10-11. The screening, done with a saliva sample, gave individuals insight into their sensitivity to certain classes of medications and showed the speed of the company’s science.
• Andrew Witty, president of GlaxoSmithKline’s pharmaceutical operations in Europe, will be the pharmaceutical company's next chief executive officer. Witty, who joined GSK in 1985, will replace Jean-Pierre Garnier, who will retire in May 2008.
• PPD of Wilmington has appointed Paul D. Colvin as senior vice president of clinical operations for North America and Simon J. Britton as vice president of clinical operations for Asia.
• Quintiles Transnational of Research Triangle Park has appointed Jay D. Norman president of its expanding Quintiles Consulting business.
• Metabolon of Research Triangle Park has appointed Don Rose vice president of marketing.

Please send Community Watch items to Jim Shamp.

This newsletter was sent on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. For the latest North Carolina biotechnology industry headlines, please visit the news section of our Web site.

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