NCBiotech News

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded more than $1.63 million in 18 loans and grants to propel the life science sector statewide during the quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Life science companies across North Carolina raised some $500 million in public and private financing in 2015.

Several life science companies received research grants from federal agencies and loans from NCBiotech to advance their research and product commercialization.

Accolades flow freely to and through the North Carolina life science sector from around the world. Here are a few nice examples of "feathers added to our cap" in 2015.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded 27 loans and grants totaling about $1.8 million to companies and universities across the state during the final quarter of its 2014-2015 fiscal year ending June 30. Altogether, the Center made 82 loans and grants totaling $6,786,852 during the year just ended.

Companies and university researchers across North Carolina are harnessing compounds, microorganisms and unique materials to bring advanced wound healing, surgical devices and regenerative medicine to civilian and military markets.

When it comes to the $24 billion outsourced drug development industry, North Carolina is the undisputed – and still undefeated – heavyweight champion of the world. It's home to 128 contract research organizations employing over 21,000 people within the state and tens of thousands of others around the world.

NCBiotech awarded $1,683,000 in five loans and a grant during the second quarter of its 2014-2015 fiscal year. Its earlier loan recipients attract $24 million in external funding during the quarter and over $309 million in calendar year 2014.

Entegrion has received funding from NCBiotech -- and $88 million in contracts from various units in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to help the RTP company keep building technologies that can save lives on battlefields by stopping blood loss and/or replacing lost blood components.

BioAgilytix Labs, a fast-growing Durham laboratory providing contract testing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, has added two new high-efficiency testing devices to its arsenal.

G1 Therapeutics, a Chapel Hill company commercializing radiation-protection technology developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding.

At least two life science companies are among the 24 startups competing for NC IDEA grants worth as much as $50,000 apiece.
 

Just two years after breaking ground on a $70 million, 147,000-square-foot R&D expansion at its sprawling Research Triangle Park campus, Syngenta Biotechnology has announced another $94 million addition to the site.
 

Two North Carolina life-science collaborations are among five award winners in last week’s second annual Przirembel Prize competition at the InnoVenture Conference in Greenville, South Carolina.

• Syngenta announces plans to begin construction on new biotechnology research facilities in Research Triangle Park
• New facilities will include all-glass, climate-controlled greenhouses and precision growth chambers to study agronomic traits
• Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2011