Biotechnology

Researchers hailed the Supreme Court ruling Wednesday that bans the patenting of human DNA, saying it would expand access to genetic testing for disease at lower cost to patients. In a unanimous decision, the justices said Myriad Genetics did not have exclusive rights to the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes that are linked to significantly greater risk for breast cancer and thus should not be the only company allowed to test for it. "Myriad did not create anything," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for his fellow justices.

Gov. Martin O'Malley named on Friday a longtime veteran of Maryland's bioscience industry to lead the Department of Business and Economic Development's efforts to increase the biotechnology and science sector in the state. Judith A. Britz, a scientist and entrepreneur with 25 years of bioscience experience, was named executive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, where she is expected to help the state's 400 bioscience companies grow and create new jobs. She most recently had her own consulting firm where she advised companies on therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

The state's half-billion dollar investment in biotechnology has been slow to pay off in jobs, a new University of Baltimore study says, but the report's lead author says Maryland should stick with its strategy of investing in a sector that could form a cornerstone of its 21st-century economy."

The four friends began meeting on Monday nights three years ago, sharing drinks around a dinner table and refining their dream of launching a biotechnology company that would revolutionize the way tumor cells are tested for cancer. They crafted a business plan and, with the help of a state tax credit program for biotech startups, they raised $1 million from investors for their company, BioMarker Strategies LLC. Fast forward to 2009: BioMarker recently announced it has secured $1.7 million more in funding, including a major infusion from one of the city's largest charitable foundations.

How serious is Maryland about pursuing its goal of becoming a center for biotechnology and the new life sciences technologies of the 21st century?The Schaefer administration is totally committed. So are other government officials, businessmen and academic leaders in the Baltimore and Washington regions. But the General Assembly? It seems to be having trouble making up its mind whether any money should be spent on such scientific ventures.Take the Maryland Bioprocessing Center, a groundbreaking enterprise that holds enormous potential for turning this region into a hotbed of scientific development.

Even in a time of recession and budget deficits, some projects just cannot be shelved for very long: road and bridge repairs, rescuing cultural resources such as the Peabody Conservatory and projects that eventually could pave the way to major new economic growth, such as the proposed $17-million Maryland Bioprocessing Facility, a priority item for the Department of Economic and Employment Development.Here's why: Maryland, a national leader in biotechnology research, looks to its major assets, the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, to provide critical mass for entrepreneurial spinoffs.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland's biotechnology community made at least three big mistakes in the last century or so: Dramamine, Bufferin and Sweet 'n Lo.Actually, those weren't the mistakes. They were wildly successful products developed from inventions or discoveries made at the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University, according to Thomas Chmura, deputy director of the Greater Baltimore Committee.The mistakes came when state, academic and private sector leaders let the technology go to manufacturers outside Maryland, forfeiting thousands of jobs and countless billions of dollars in revenues, Mr. Chmura said.

I AGREE with Greenpeace that we need to feed and clothe the world's people while minimizing the impact of agriculture on the environment. But the human population continues to grow, while arable land is a finite quantity.So unless we will accept starvation or placing parks and the Amazon Basin under the plow, there really is no alternative to applying biotechnology to agriculture.Today's biotechnology differs significantly from previous agricultural technologies. Using genetic engineering, scientists can enhance the nutritional content, texture, color, flavor, growing season, yield, disease resistance and other properties of production crops.

Maryland has been slow to turn its edge in biotechnolog research into new products, companies and jobs, according to a Greater Baltimore Committee report released yesterday.More help is needed to transfer technology discovered at local universities and federal research institutions out of the ivory tower and into the marketplace, the GBC said."This is the decade when things are supposed to take off," said Elizabeth K. Nitze, a consultant who was principal author of the report. In the 1990s, biotech companies nationwide expect to introduce an array of new products based on 1980s research, she said.

WASHINGTON -- Investors have turned their attention and their money back to the biotechnology industry.Renewed interest in the sector, which has taken a beating thus far in 1992, doesn't follow any dramatic announcements, analysts said. Rather, it reflects the low cost of the stocks, potential new products and hopes for better days under President-elect Bill Clinton's leadership, they said.The American Stock Exchange's Biotechnology Index rose 9.03 points, to 168.38, Monday, a three-month high, and continued the gain yesterday.

Low-cost home phone service available Maryland residents who receive public assistance such as food stamps or supplemental security income may also qualify for low-cost home telephone service. Staff from the state Public Service Commission and Verizon will be available from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday in Baltimore to help people sign up for Lifeline Assistance or Link-Up America, also known as Tel-Life. Link-Up America provides state and federal money to hook up telephone service. With Lifeline Assistance, basic monthly telephone service can cost just 66 cents a month, including 30 telephone calls.

The biotechnology company, Genentech, as expected, turned down a buyout offer yesterday from its majority owner Roche, saying the bid of $89 a share was far too low. But in a statement, a special committee of Genentech's board said it would consider a higher offer, which some analysts took as suggesting a deal would eventually be done. The committee also approved a "broad-based" employee retention program, an indication that Genentech executives, and Roche executives as well, were worried that employees would leave amid the uncertainty of whether Genentech might lose its status as an independent company.

A man arrested near the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus Tuesday after a police officer said he was carrying a makeshift explosive device was charged yesterday with assault, reckless endangerment and concealing a deadly weapon. Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford identified the suspect as Dallas Jermaine Smith, 22, who has no fixed address. A District Court commissioner yesterday ordered Smith to be held without bail; his next court appearance has not been set. Clifford said that a university officer stopped the man in the 800 block of W. Baltimore St. on Tuesday morning because he was clutching his side as if he was trying to hide a weapon.

Mark A. Vulcan - a tax attorney and CPA - had something of a rock star moment when he rolled into work at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development's Baltimore offices yesterday morning just before 8. There, crowding in the lobby at 217 E. Redwood St., were more than a dozen slightly bedraggled biotech executives, some of whom had slept on the sidewalk, and all of whom wanted an audience with Vulcan. At 9 a.m., he began accepting applications for a state tax credit program worth up to $250,000 apiece for eligible biotechnology business investors.

In trumpeting his new biotechnology initiative last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley used the word "leverage" eight times to describe the nine-point plan. Clearly, a governor proposing a new, billion-dollar program during a time of fiscal austerity wants Marylanders to see this spending as an investment - one expected to produce a healthy return. He makes a strong case: If figures from the state Department of Business and Economic Development are correct, the state's $1.1 billion commitment will attract an estimated $6.3 billion in federal and private-sector money.

Three days after Gov. Martin O'Malley announced a $1.1 billion initiative for the biotechnology industry, Comptroller Peter Franchot announced yesterday that he would advocate that the state pension fund to invest about $1 billion in life sciences and "green" technology such as renewable energy and environmentally sensitive building materials. Franchot, who is vice chairman of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, said he would recommend that about $500 million be invested in the biotechnology industry, particularly in Maryland.

Despite problems finding capital, the prospects for emerging technology companies in the 1990s remain bright, a panel of experts told a forum at the University of Maryland at Baltimore last night.The cost of communications will plummet and the number of new products emerging from biotechnology companies will boom, the analysts said, offering opportunities for smart entrepreneurs to expand their business."It [the 1990s] could be expected to be called the decade of biotechnology," Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. biotechnology analyst David Webber said.

Baltimore Biotechnology Inc., a tiny research and development company headed by a well-known retinal surgeon at St. Joseph Hospital, has been acquired by a California company in exchange for roughly $700,000 in stock based on current prices.With the purchase, Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Santa Clara, will be tapping into the work of the six Baltimore Biotech researchers who have developed new technology that uses biotechnology to treat eye diseases.Celtrix will also have a closer relationship with Dr. Bert M. Glaser, founder of Baltimore Biotech and director of the Retina Center at St. Joseph.

Gov. Martin O'Malley unveiled yesterday a proposal to invest $1.1 billion over the next decade to cement Maryland's status as a pre-eminent hub for biotechnology research, including stem-cell studies aimed at finding breakthrough medical advances. The funding, which would build on existing tax credits and grant programs, would be used to create a biotechnology center, finance capital projects and make equity investments in start-up companies. O'Malley, a Democrat, said the money could transform Maryland - where the human genome was mapped in 2001 - into a global leader in personalized medicine or the use of genetics to tailor treatments.