Gov. Perry Urges Continued Investment in Biotechnology Industry

Gov. Rick Perry today urged the nation’s leading pharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies to invest in Texas’ growing biomedical technology industry. The governor spoke at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) annual conference.

The governor promoted Texas as the premier state for biomedical research, development and manufacturing because of the state’s strong business climate and investments through the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF).

Gov. Perry also cited the state’s recent investment to create the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing, a state of the art facility within the Texas A&M University System that will complete the cycle of research, development and manufacturing of drugs in the state.

“Our infrastructure is maturing and valuable research is taking place, but we will lose the enormous potential of those ideas beyond our borders if we don’t ramp up our manufacturing capability beyond our current early-phase abilities,” Gov. Perry said. “This new facility is the final, large piece of the pharmaceutical development track and its completion will launch our state onto a new level of achievement, bringing us one step closer to containing the entire lifecycle for new drugs within our state, keeping investment, jobs and growth here where they belong.”
 
Current pharmaceutical production is concentrated in California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and abroad. Gov. Perry noted that while other states are driving pharmaceutical companies out with high taxes and unreasonable regulations, Texas’ reasonable regulatory structure, low taxes and growing network of essential biotechnology development infrastructure provide an ideal climate for research, investment and commercialization.
 
“I’m proud to say that Texas currently invests more in basic biomedical research than all but two other states, but I am troubled that we rank in the bottom half when it comes to commercializing biomedical discoveries,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why we have been working so hard to leverage the remarkable research that occurs in our public universities, and place those discoveries on the fast track toward testing, production and sale.”

The governor credited the ETF with promoting partnerships between and within universities in the state and private companies to help commercialize university research and fill gaps in the state’s technology infrastructure. Companies with groundbreaking technologies have used ETF investments to develop essential technologies to improve the health and quality of life of people across the world.

ETF investments include companies such as Halsa Pharmaceuticals, which is working to find cures for obesity, Diabetica Solutions, whose products will help prevent over 2,000 diabetes-related amputations in the next five years, and Nanospectra, which has developed AuroLase, a cancer therapy treatment to selectively kill solid tumors without significantly damaging healthy tissue.

For more information about the event and the ETF, please visit http://www.governor.state.tx.us/highlight/biotech_etf.