FAQ
Why Biosciences?
 What are the biosciences?
The biosciences encompass the branches of
natural science dealing with the structure and behavior of living
organisms. The bioscience industry cluster is comprised of five
segments: agricultural feedstock and chemicals; drugs and
pharmaceuticals; medical devices and instruments; hospitals and
laboratories; and research and testing (CLICK ON DIAGRAM TO ENLARGE).
Why are the biosciences important to
Arizona?
Two reasons: better healthcare, stronger economy.
Regarding healthcare, the biosciences offer local access to the latest
medical discoveries, diagnoses, and treatments, and top healthcare
practitioners. This is important to every state, but especially
Arizona, where a fast-growing population presents medical-manpower
challenges but also opportunities to pioneer new modes of treatment,
especially through personalized medicine. On the economic side, the
biosciences means good, high-paying jobs--not only in science, but
supporting areas such as law, marketing, accounting, etc. The
biosciences offer a stronger, more diversified economy that can help to
weather dry economic times that come with a state reliant on cyclical
industries such construction and tourism.
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Arizona's Strategy
What is Arizona's long-term mission and strategy in
the biosciences?
VISION
Arizona's vision is to become a global biomedical
research and bioscience commercial center by focusing its efforts and
funding on select areas of strength that are already poised to make
great gains on a national and international level. These were
identified in 2002 as neurosciences, cancer research, bioengineering,
and bioimaging. Additional areas of excellence include infectious
diseases, agricultural biotech, asthma, diabetes, bioinformatics,
cardiovascular development, plant and insect sciences, environmental
eco-sciences, and basic molecular and genomic sciences.
STRATEGIES
Arizona has four strategies, which encompass 19
actions, to develop a bioscience research base and build a critical
mass of bioscience companies.
-
Strategy
One: Build the state's research infrastructure of outstanding
talent and modern facilities and equipment around selective technology
platforms and core competencies.
-
Strategy
Two: Build a critical mass of bioscience firms by increasing
the birthrate and reducing the death rate of Arizona's bioscience firms
and encouraging the commercialization of research discoveries.
- Strategy Three: Offer a business
climate and environment that supports, sustains, and encourages the
growth of bioscience enterprises--small and large--to start, expand,
and
remain in Arizona.
-
Strategy
Four: Encourage the state's citizens to become a more
informed citizenry in the biosciences and encourage young people to
explore and pursue scientific and technical careers.
How long will it take for Arizona to become a leader
in the biosciences?
One lesson from every successful technology community
is that success takes time. Silicon Valley and Route 128 in
Massachusetts trace their origins in electronics to the 1950s and in
the life sciences to the 1970s. In contrast, Maryland has emerged as a
major bioscience center in 12 to 14 years. While this may indicate that
the time required to become a leading life-science center can be
shortened, it must be recognized that such development cannot be
accomplished in a year or two. It requires a long-term effort, measured
in a decade or more.
Is Arizona on track for accomplishing its mission and
strategy in the biosciences?
Arizona has made great progress in implementing the
Bioscience Roadmap, primarily through extensive collaboration and a
strong commitment to building research infrastructure. While there are
key steps remaining specifically in relation to funding and recruiting
talent, there have been noteworthy milestones in the state's effort. A
comprehensive list of those milestones is here.
How does Arizona compare with what other states are
doing to advance the biosciences?
Forty-one states are targeting the biosciences with
the largest amounts of funding including Pennsylvania's $2 billion over
25 years, Florida's $1.2 billion, and Wisconsin's $750 million. In
2004, California voters successfully passed a stem-cell initiative
dedicating $3 billion over the next 10 years to this important area of
bioscience research. Arizona's commitment of $440 million for research
facilities, as well as $35 million for the 21st Century Fund, is a
strong down payment, but additional resources will be needed for
faculty, equipment, and other assets that Arizona must secure to
compete with these states.
Why is Arizona chasing the same bioscience "prize" as
everyone else?
While it's true that all 50 states have formal
initiatives in the biosciences, Arizona is taking a different approach
than most. Arizona is one of few states to compile and put into action
a strategic long-term (10 years) plan in the form of Arizona's
Bioscience Roadmap. Further, Arizona is targeting its resources and
efforts on specific disciplines in which it already
excels--bioengineering, bioimaging, cancer research, and neurological
sciences in the near-term, followed by agriculture biotech, diabetes,
asthma, infectious diseases, and other disciplines. Arizona is not
attempting to become the next Boston or Bay Area--regions that have
the
resources to compete in broad areas of the biosciences.
What is the economic impact of the biosciences on
Arizona?
The investments recommended in the Bioscience Roadmap
can result in the following:
- Critical Mass of Research Support:
Arizona's effort to build its bioscience industry is already paying
off. From 2002-2008, Arizona achieved a growth rate for National
Institutes of Health grants--the "gold standard" of medical research
grants--that exceeded the average growth rate for the 10 states with
the
greatest amount of NIH funding.
- Critical Mass of Businesses and Jobs:
Arizona's jobs and firms in the bioscience industry increased 31
percent and 32 percent, respectively, from 2002 to 2008. This compares
to 12 percent and 22 percent, respectively, for the nation as a
whole. A critical
mass of bioscience firms will have a multiplier effect on other
business service and supplier sectors of the economy, ultimately
accounting for thousands of additional jobs in all sectors of Arizona's
economy.
- Leveraged Investments: Every $1
that Arizona's private and public sectors provide is estimated to
leverage $6.26 in other investments.
What are Arizona's strengths and weaknesses in the
biosciences?
Arizona has bioscience assets and strengths on which
to build, including:
- Arizona's bioscience research competencies and
scientific platforms have already been identified.
- Unprecedented research and health-care
collaboration is already being achieved.
- Arizona has a strong information-technologies and
advanced-communications industry that can help strengthen the state's
biosciences.
- Initial investments and down payment on the
Bioscience Roadmap have already been made.
- TGen was successfully attracted to Arizona and
additional signature contributions have been made by industry and
philanthropy to universities.
Arizona's weaknesses to address include:
- Inadequate research and talent base with
insufficient depth and breadth means that Arizona is not among the
top-tier states in bioscience research.
- No critical mass of bioscience industry, and
existing industry is not connected sufficiently to universities and
clinical health care.
- Lack of sufficient equity capital to form firms.
Historically, research has not been fully understood by Arizona's
private and public leaders.
- Arizona does not yet have sufficient capacity in
translational and transformation research to turn research into
commercial products and processes, including patient care.
- Insufficient numbers of physicians and other
medical personnel create labor shortages today, let alone tomorrow.
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Innovation
What bioscience-related innovations have been
achieved by Arizonans?
Arizona has been the home to national and
international innovations in the biosciences. Recently, the Biodesign
Institute at Arizona State University was recognized for its innovative
work on HIV/AIDS vaccines and treatments. TGen, in
its brief tenure, has accounted for several significant genomic
discoveries. University of Arizona researchers participated in
international efforts that successfully mapped the rice and corn
genomes. Northern Arizona University houses one of the largest
pathogen-related genomics research centers in the world.
Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City has one of
the world's largest brain banks, and tissue banking statewide continues
to gain prominence: International Genomics Consortium, in collaboration
with TGen, was selected from over 370 applicants nationwide to create a
national tissue bank of cancer tumor specimens for The Cancer Genome
Atlas Project (TCGA); and Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) has
established the Human Specimen Procurement Service (HSPS) to study
neurological disorders.
While the state is perhaps best known for the
development of the first artificial heart to receive approval from the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Jack Copeland, chief surgeon at
University Medical Center) it has contributed substantially to the
understanding of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's diseases, and many types of cancer. At present,
nanotechnology developed at the Biodesign Institute at ASU is being
used to develop flexible computer display screens on a $43.5 million
grant from the Army.
In addition, there is a drive to take research
innovations from the university to the marketplace. During the period
from 2002-07, 39 biotech startups formed from university
research.
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Investment
Why is public-sector investment needed in the
biosciences?
Many states recognize that their economic future is
strengthened by investing in the biosciences, and if Arizona is to keep
up, the public sector must also invest in order to keep top
researchers, attract nationally-recognized faculty, and build core labs
and facilities that are competitive with other academic health and
university research centers across the country. Public-sector
investment is also needed to fill the initial gaps in capital
investments that can leverage further revenue and catalyze private
funding. For example, the state's initial investment of $5 million in
TGen has resulted in additional revenues of $15.6 million, a 3.1-fold
increase. In the future, a start-up seed fund generated by public
and/or private investment could be geared towards attracting additional
private funds.
What public-sector incentives exist to encourage the
growth and development of existing in-state firms and the attraction of
out-of-state firms to Arizona?
Among a host of state tax incentives for general
business, Governor Janet Napolitano signed a bill on May 15, 2005, to
stimulate investment in early-stage technology firms. The legislation
enables "angel" investors to secure tax credits of 30 percent for
investment in tech firms and 35 percent for biotech and rural
companies. The program went into effect on July 1, 2006.
What is the importance and status of venture-capital
formation for the biosciences in Arizona?
Leading bioscience regions share one characteristic:
they are home to a venture-capital community that is both oriented
toward early-stage financing and committed to local investment. Having
state-based local venture-capital funds with experience investing in
bioscience companies is critical, for these funds help startup
companies gain a foothold in the market. Venture-capital formation for
the biosciences in Arizona continues to lag behind advanced
communications/information technology but is narrowing the
gap. Through the first three quarters of 2007,
venture-capital funding for biosciences in Arizona totaled
approximately $77 million, on track to meet the Bioscience Roadmap's
goal of $100 million for the year. The state accounts for
less than 1 percent of all bioscience VC nationally.
Why is seed/pre-seed funding important?
Access to early-stage risk capital is a critical
factor in building a bioscience-driven economy. Pre-seed and seed
funding are provided to a firm in its infancy to help it startup
operations and build up enough of a base to quality for venture-capital
investments. The Bioscience Roadmap identifies a gap in pre-seed/seed
funding in Arizona that must be addressed in order for it to
successfully compete in the biosciences on a national level.
What is the importance and status of "tech transfer"
in Arizona?
"Tech transfer," the process of turning university
research into commercial products, is crucial for Arizona's economic
development. One key area of tech transfer is the ability for
universities to invest in businesses spun off of research done by their
own faculty members. University investment provides initial capital to
businesses trying to get off the ground, and, if the business is
successful, it also generates revenue for the university. For example,
newspaper reports suggest Stanford University could make $250 million
from its investment in Google.
However, in Arizona this cannot easily or fully happen
until voters approve a constitutional amendment. In November 2004,
voters narrowly defeated a ballot initiative to allow Arizona
universities to take an equity position in businesses that spin out of
university research. Proponents of the amendment hope it will make it
back on the ballot in the future.
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Private Sector
How many bioscience-related firms exist in Arizona?
There are 841 bioscience-related firms
(Battelle 2008). Of the total bioscience firms, 398 involve research, testing, and medical labs; 265 are in medical device
and instrument manufacturing; 118 are hospitals; and the
remainder are in drugs and pharmaceuticals and agricultural feedback
and chemicals.
How many bioscience-related firms have moved to
Arizona since the formation of TGen?
While there is no single list that pulls together this
information in comprehensive fashion, numerous firms involved in the
biosciences have opened offices in Arizona since TGen's formation in
2002, including: InNexus Biotechnology, Abraxis BioScience, InSys
Therapeutics, Acenta Discovery, Semaphore Pharmaceuticals, Cancer
Treatment Centers of America, Caris Diagnostics, Apthera, Cayenne
Medical, Oncothyreon, Genomics USA, 5AM Solutions, Neural Intervention
Technologies. In 2009, global drug-development services firm Covance
opened a Chandler facility expected to employ up to 2,000. Firms
are also being grown in Arizona--39 startup companies were spun off
from university research between 2002-07.
What are the top-10 bioscience-related firms in
Arizona, in terms of employment?
While there is no definitive list, the following
pieces together 10 of Arizona's largest bioscience-related firms as
determined by the number of Arizona-based employees. These figures are
based on publicly available data.
- Medtronic, Tempe
- W.L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff
- Ventana Medical Systems, Oro Valley
- Sonora Quest Laboratories, statewide
- Apache Nitrogen Products, Benson
- Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Tempe
- Gowan Milling, Yuma
- Arizona Natural Resources Inc., Phoenix
- Medicis, Scottsdale
- Zila Inc., Phoenix
--Source: Compiled by Flinn Foundation
Is there a shortage of wet-lab space in Arizona? If
so, what is being done to address the shortage?
Bioscience companies need specialized wet-lab space
with enhanced air-handling and sterility requirements. According to the
Bioscience Roadmap, the lack of wet lab space, which is extremely
expensive to build, is one of the weaknesses that must be addressed in
the short term in order to develop a critical mass of bioscience
companies.
In order to address this shortage, several efforts are
underway statewide, including: the 2008 opening of the Northern Arizona
Center for Emerging Technologies in Flagstaff and completion of the
Papago Gateway Center in Tempe; the 2009 funding allocation for a
bioscience incubator at GateWay Community College in Phoenix; and the
2010 opening of the Chandler Innovations bioscience/high-technology
incubator and the expansion of the Arizona Center for Innovation at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.
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Public and Non-Profit Sector
What is the role of state and local government in the
biosciences?
The state and local role is to ensure that the
required infrastructure such as research facilities, faculty, and
physical infrastructure is in place to leverage federal dollars. Their
economic-development role is to help find solutions to fill market gaps
in ways that support, spur, link, and leverage ongoing private
investments. These economic-development efforts include focusing on
public-supported research universities; addressing the future talent
pool through education and workforce programs; and ensuring a high
quality of life, including a sound tax and regulatory climate.
What is the role of Arizona's universities in the
biosciences?
Outstanding research universities are
required for Arizona to become serious about the
biosciences. Universities must have the capability to engage
industry, directly and indirectly to convert their
intellectual knowledge into economic activity; universities require
policies and programs to improve technology transfer and
commercialization.
What is the role of Arizona's community colleges in
the biosciences?
As Arizona's biotech industry grows, the
community-college system will help meet the growing work-force demands.
Community colleges will prepare many of the
industry's workers, especially medical lab technicians and
research technicians.
What is the role of Arizona's research institutes in
the biosciences?
Like its universities, Arizona's research institutes
play a vital role in building a critical mass of research and
innovations in Arizona. For future success, research
institutions will need to partner to leverage resources, funding, and
scarce knowledge assets that serve to transfer discoveries from the
university to the marketplace and then promote the new technologies.
What is the role of Arizona's bioscience- and
technology-related trade associations?
Bioscience- and technology-related trade associations
build bioindustry through networking, providing tools and resources for
companies, advocating on behalf of bioindustry, and promoting the
biosciences locally, statewide, and nationally. Arizona's recognized,
statewide trade association for the biosciences is the Arizona
BioIndustry Organization (AZBio).
What is the role of Arizona's Bioscience Roadmap
Steering Committee?
The 90-plus member committee of statewide leaders in
science, business, economic development, and government is charged with
overseeing the implementation of the Bioscience Roadmap's strategies
and actions.
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Workforce
How many jobs exist in Arizona's bioscience sector?
What is the anticipated job growth?
There are an estimated 89,674 jobs in
Arizona's bioscience sector. Eighty-four percent of those jobs are in
hospitals. The 2003 "Battelle Bioscience Workforce Needs Assessment"
forecasted double-digit growth in new bioscience
hires.
What educational training do I need to be employed in
the biosciences?
-- Source: Battelle Bioscience
Workforce Needs Assessment, 2003.
What are Arizona's high schools, community colleges,
and universities doing to prepare the future bioscience workforce?
High schools across the state are developing
biotechnology programs that give students the skills they need to
pursue higher education and enter the bioscience industry. Community
colleges are also developing specific bioscience programs that will
generate an industry workforce, such as recently implemented
lab-technician training programs and biotechnology training programs.
Universities have begun to promote bioscience programs,
too; ASU, UA, and NAU have each established their own
bioscience research institute, and they are working to attract and
retain top faculty who will both conduct research and
educate a future workforce. In addition, 2007 saw
the unprecedented opening of the UA College of
Medicine-Phoenix.
What is the annual average salary of an employee in
the biosciences in Arizona? How does this salary compare to other
employment sectors?
Average salary of employee in biosciences: $55,749
Average salary of private sector: $41,920
Bioscience salaries are up 43% from 2002 to 2008. The highest paid
category of bioscience workers--those in research, testing, and medical
laboratories--earn nearly $64,000 per year.
How can I find a job in the biosciences?
Several sources offer information about job
opportunities on their websites. For more information, visit:
In addition, several other major online job-search
services allow users to search specifically for bioscience jobs in
Arizona.
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More Info
Who can I consult if this website does not answer my
question?
There are a handful of bioscience and technology
associations that can address more specific needs. A list of them with
weblinks is provided below. Also, comprehensive information on
technology business development in Arizona can be found at http://www.aztechbizdev.com/.
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