Texas Gov. Perry Announces $50 Million ETF Investment to Create National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing

Center to be first of its kind in the United States

March 23, 2009 -- AUSTIN – Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced the state will invest $50 million through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) in the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) to create the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM). The center will be an international destination for research and development of medications to combat diseases such as cancer, diabetes and influenza, and will serve as a model for future national facilities that will protect the nation from bio-terror threats and attacks.

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“There is no question that the biotechnology industry is essential to developing products that can improve and save lives, and Texas is working to foster continued growth of this industry within the state,” said Gov. Perry. “I want Texas to be the place where innovative ideas can go from the lab room to the marketplace and this ETF investment will play an important role in bridging that gap. The development of this center will bring Texas to the forefront of the international stage of disease and biotechnology research and drug manufacturing.”

“This center will serve as a critical prototype for improving the nation’s ability to develop new vaccines and therapeutics in an accelerated and cost-effective manner,” Vice Chancellor for Research Brett Giroir said. “It will be especially important in the larger goal of protecting our nation and citizens from the threat of bio-terror weapons such as anthrax and Ebola virus.”

By collaborating with academic researchers and commercial companies, the center will create a new model for producing critical drugs by developing an innovative “flexible-by-design” manufacturing system, which will allow rapid production of drugs in precisely targeted quantities. By comparison, conventional manufacturing plants only specialize in the mega-production of one type of drug only.

The NCTM will become part of a biomedical cluster including the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, which is jointly operated by the Texas A&M Health Science Center and TAMU, and the Texas Institute for Pre-Clinical Studies, which is operated by TAMU. The center’s manufacturing arrangements will allow it to contract with academic, governmental and commercial entities, giving a strong economic boost to the Texas economy by allowing the production of therapeutic drugs in-state that would have otherwise gone to California, New Jersey and other locations.

The ETF is a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 at the governor’s request and was reauthorized in 2007. A 17-member advisory committee of high-tech leaders, entrepreneurs and research experts reviews potential projects and recommends funding allocations to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house.

For more information on the ETF, please visit http://www.emergingtechfund.com.

Source: Texas Governor