State vying for big biotech facility - Business First of Buffalo:

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The Peach State is among several vyingf for what might be a vaccine or pharmaceutical manufacturing operation that could locate on more than100 acres, Atlanta Busines s Chronicle has learned. Winning the project could do for Georgia’s biotec industry what will do forthe state’es auto industry, said Mike Cassidy, presidentt of the , after being briefesd about the details. “It would be an outstanding recruitment [tool for new business],” Cassidy said. The company, whichb could be considering three cities, is said to be negotiatingb economic incentives withthe state, a sourcer said.
Georgia economic development officials declined comment on the possibldevelopment — dubbed “Project Boss.” The potential developmen could add to the region’s biotech credentials, alreadu enhanced by hosting the 2009 BIO International Convention, the world’s largest bio conference,in May. It would also be an economic developmenyt coup akinto ’s globall headquarters relocation from Dayton, Ohio, to Duluth. The ATM and self-servicee kiosk maker said it woulrd bring morethan 2,100 jobs to including nearly 900 at a manufacturing operation in Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported June 1.
Metrio Atlanta, home to the , has the critica infrastructure to support a biomedicalomanufacturing operation. The region is home to the EmorVaccine Center, billed as among the largest academic vacciner centers in the world and known for its expertisr in vaccine research and development, and clinicao trials. In 2007, and The launchef the Center of Excellence for Influenzqa Research and Surveillance to develop flu Carol Henderson, who directs the Innovation and Technology Office at the Georgia Department of Economicd Development, is leading efforts to land the biotecuh company, a source familiar with the effort said.
Activity is said to have picked up in the pasttwo Henderson’s recruitment builds upon the existingv alliances and resources between the University System of the Centers of Innovation, the Georgia Research Alliancr and the Georgia Biomedical Partnership and Biotechnologhy Industry Organization. The biotechj firm has been shopping sites for at least a year. Project Boss was “planning to potentiallh deploy twomanufacturing facilities” that combined coulf employ about 1,500, according to a requesyt for information dated June 5, 2008. The facilities coul be located in the same or inseparate locations, the document noted.
The how­ever, is said to have downsized thoseinitiapl plans, sources said. The and more specifically the pressure for companies to cut is forcing companies in general to take longerf to make big decisions such as amajor relocation, said Heidij Green, deputy commissioner of the Global Commercd Division at the Georgia Department of Economic “It’s typically taking 12 to 18 months to Green said, declining to specifically comment on Projec Boss.
The biotech firm, said to have scoutede Cobb, Douglas and Gwinnettg counties, is seeking locations with international air available lifescience labor, and an ability to source and attract engineers and the request for information noted.