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Monday, November 28, 2005
Ind. Econ. Dev. - "Indiana looks to grow life sciences "
"Indiana looks to grow life sciences: Biotechnology may help boost economy" is the headline to an AP story today by Rick Callahan, published in the Louisville Courier Journal. It begins:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A huge factory on the south side of Bloomington was once the world's top producer of color televisions, churning out up to 9,000 a day until 1998, when Thomson Consumer Electronics shifted the work, and the jobs, to Mexico.Now a biotechnology center occupies much of the old building, where next year Cook Pharmica Inc. workers will begin growing batches of genetically modified mammalian cells used to make drugs and vaccines.
"It's a remarkable transition of the building -- from TVs to cell fermentation," said Jerry Arthur, president of Cook Pharmica, which expects to employ more than 220 people within five years.
The $70 million high-tech operation, one of a handful of its kind in the Midwest, is the stuff of dreams for state and industry officials hoping to turn Indiana into one of the nation's leaders in life sciences and biotechnology.
Indiana already ranks second in the nation, behind New Jersey, in its concentration of biopharmaceutical companies. David Johnson, chief executive of BioCrossroads, and others said the state has the ingredients to become a national leader in other life-science niches.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 28, 2005 10:47 AM
Posted to Indiana economic development