New US biocluster seeks opportunities with European biotech companies
The city of Phoenix has officially become the newest biotech cluster in the US with the grand opening of its downtown biomedical centre, Phoenix Biomedical Center (PBC), and worldwide headquarters for TGen (Translational Genomics Institute) and IGC (International Genomics Consortium).
The city of Phoenix has officially become the newest biotech cluster in the US with the grand opening of its downtown biomedical centre, Phoenix Biomedical Center (PBC), and worldwide headquarters for TGen (Translational Genomics Institute) and IGC (International Genomics Consortium).
The city of Phoenix and state of Arizona have laid the foundation for becoming one of the industry's foremost research centres with regards to neurogenomics and related research areas of alzheimer's, autism, cancer, and diabetes. The city seeks to attract biotech and related companies from Europe for business opportunities in r&d, collaboration, partnering, and office expansion.
The $46m TGen/IGC building forms the foundation of the PBC, a 28-acre development area planned near the epicentre of Copper Square - a thriving and rejuvenated section of Phoenix featuring sports, music, theatre, restaurants and other entertainment and cultural venues. The futuristic, 173,000 square-foot TGen/IGC building is owned by the city of Phoenix.
'Building our biotech industry is very important for the state's future economic growth and will benefit all its citizens,' said Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona. 'We are committed to investing resources, and fostering a positive investment climate in partnership with our universities, to make Arizona more attractive to out of state companies.'
PBC is the keystone of the statewide bioscience initiative, and is expected to have a significant impact on biomedical discoveries, the quality of health care for Arizona's residents, and the expansion and diversification of the state's economy. Other planned developments for the PBC area include the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative (a three university teaching facility), a College of Medicine, a College of Pharmacy, and a College of Nursing.
Phoenix has a population of 3.4 million, and is home to over 1000 bio-related companies and the seventh busiest airport in the world. One of the fastest-growing US cities, the region offers a growing and skilled workforce, a competitive business environment, and easy access to major markets.