WEEKLY E-NEWS FROM THE NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

IN FOCUS FEATURE

State's First Center of Innovation Grant Awarded

From Our Web Site

Center Creates New Division to Advance Statewide Operations
The Biotechnology Center has created a new Statewide Operations and Economic Development Division to foster the creation and growth of biotechnology companies, business development and new job opportunities throughout the state.

Norris Tolson Chats with Bill Friday Nov. 16
William Friday interviews Norris Tolson, president and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, about biotechnology on UNC-TV's "North Carolina People" program.

Synteract Adds to Triangle CRO Growth
The San Diego-based company, a fast-growing privately held contract research organization, has announced plans to expand its three-person office in Morrisville to help support its East Coast expansion.

Central Carolina to Offer Biofuels Associate Degree Program
Central Carolina Community College will offer North Carolina's first biofuels associate degree program starting in fall 2008.

West Pharmaceutical Services to Create 154 New Jobs
The Pennsylvania-based maker of medical devices plans to create 154 jobs and invest $18.7 million in the next three years in its Kinston plant.

FDA Inspectors to Train Under BTEC Federal Contract
A new contract between the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) at North Carolina State University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will benefit FDA trainees and North Carolina's biotech industry by smoothing the process of field inspections.

Southeast Bio Announces Investor Forum Speakers
The Investor Forum, scheduled for Nov. 7-8 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst will feature remarks by more than 14 industry leaders.

BDSI Seeks FDA Approval on Cancer Pain Therapy
Morrisville pharmaceutical company BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI) announced it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its BEMA Fentanyl treatment for "breakthrough" cancer pain.

AlphaVax Advances Clinical Trials
AlphaVax has successfully concluded a Phase 1 clinical trial of its proprietary replicon vector platform.

Tranzyme Bolsters Coffers with $20M
A trio of venture capital investment groups has completed a new round of investment to raise its stake in Research Triangle Park-based Tranzyme Pharma to $20 million, bolstering a loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to help further the firm's research efforts.

In Focus

State's First Center of Innovation Grant Awarded

A tiny technology has united the efforts of three Piedmont Triad universities in a research partnership.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University will collaborate to raise the state's prominence in nanobiotechnology.

This area of science tests and develops products and applications on particles that are measured by the nanometer, or billionth of a meter. A typical human hair is about 80,000 nanometers across.

The collaboration has received a $100,000 award from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the first such award in the new Centers of Innovation program.

Read the complete article.

News from Other Sites

Cancer Study Gets Tiny
"The word 'breakthrough' is often used when talking about the newest drug or the next treatment in cancer research. But in dozens of university labs and spin-off companies throughout the Triangle, the phrase 'science fiction' might be a better fit."
From The (Raleigh) News and Observer

Biotechnology Center's VP of Communications Is Stepping Down
"Barry Teater, a 20-year veteran of the Biotechnology Center that was founded in 1984, is joining The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, as its director of communications."
From WRAL LocalTechWire.com

Migration: Biofuel Production Heading South
"Most Southern states use more corn than they produce, mostly to feed pigs and chickens. For that reason, biofuel experts doubt that corn will remain the top ethanol crop for very long."
From the Media General News Service

Community Watch

• Christopher H. Cabell, M.D., has joined Durham-based Quintiles Transnational Corp.'s Medical and Scientific Services group in Global Clinical Development Services.
• Quintiles bought Bio-Trials, a clinical research organization with offices in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru and Panama. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings of Burlington announced it will now offer integrated screening and sequential screening tests for down syndrome under license from England-based Intema Limited. Studies have revealed the technology has produced higher detection rates and fewer false positives.

Please send Community Watch items to Jim Shamp.

This newsletter was sent on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007. For the latest North Carolina biotechnology industry headlines, please visit the news section of our Web site.

Online subscription management is now available. We're still working on its functionality, so respond to this e-mail if you cannot change your preferences online.