Technology, cash are plentiful in Maryland; facilities are lacking

Biotech startups need three things: access to technology, capital and facilities, according to Maryland Technology Development Corp. Executive Director Phillip A. Singerman. We have plenty of technology in Maryland, including that being developed at the University of Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University and the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health. We also have plenty of capital.

What Maryland lacks, he said, is wet lab space. But it's very expensive. Venture capital firms don't want to spend their money in facilities and rent.

Part of the problem is that wet lab space isn't readily available in the commercial market, says Michael Haines, senior vice president with the Howard County Economic Development Authority. That tends to be difficult since it must be customized. Also, most brokers and construction executives are looking for larger tenants so they can develop larger ventures.

Fortunately, in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, some wet lab space is being delivered by tech and biotech incubators.

We have several incubators in operation or coming online that will provide that wet lab space, Singerman said, including 20,000 square feet newly renovated at University of Maryland, Baltimore County at the former Martin Marietta building and the 120,000- square-foot University of Maryland, Baltimore research park, which will include up to 50,000 square feet of incubation space when it is completed. Also, Johns Hopkins is establishing the 2 million-square- foot East Baltimore Life Sciences and Technology Park, which will offer incubator programs for cutting-edge science.

The advantage of incubator space, Haines says, is it's already there and is constructed or developed to accommodate small biotech businesses. Plus, entrepreneurs don't have to negotiate acquiring space the same [way they would in a commercially developed facility].

Another factor that makes most biotech startups a better fit in incubators rather than in strictly commercial facilities is that the nurturing process for a new life-sciences firm averages six to seven years - more than twice what is necessary for an IT business.

All an IT company needs from the broker is an Internet connection and a plug in the wall so they can come in and start developing work immediately, Haines said. Biotech firms are high-maintenance from the nurturing and facilities point of view.

The Chesapeake Innovation Center, the nation's first Homeland Security technology incubator, opened in Annapolis last June without any wet lab space, but Executive Director John Elstner says the center still appeals to new biotech ventures.

We don't have lab space, but we can serve as headquarters for such [life-sciences] companies to provide access to the investment community and leaders in the homeland security marketplace, he says.

The center's lone biotech tenant is PharmAthene Inc., which is developing an inhibitor technology for bioweapons, such as anthrax. The company already has raised $15 million for health care ventures to date.

In the next five years, the Chesapeake Innovation Center does plan on adding wet lab space as the center ramps up to becoming a nationally embraced center for homeland security technologies, of which biodefense will be a substantial element, Elstner said.

Copyright 2004 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.