On average, one bioscience-related company either launches, locates, or expands in Ohio every week. And quite often BioOhio is involved, sometimes guiding the new or expanding company and other times playing a supporting role.

 

Like we were for Amylin, ViewRay, and Freedom Meditech, BioOhio can be the strategic alliance connection for your company’s site selection, talent recruitment, supplier network, expansion, and partnership needs.

 

San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals chose Ohio twice in two years, once in 2005 as the location for a $70 million, 150,000-square foot production facility in West Chester, near Cincinnati, and again in 2007, for a $400 million strategic expansion which will employ 500 people. Both projects were highly competitive, with many other states, namely Kentucky, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Arizona and California vying for the project.
   

Why Ohio? Proximity to Amylin’s partners, Ohio’s tax reform, and an unbelievably innovative team effort made Ohio stand out among the other locations. Amylin partners with Alkermes (Wilmington, OH) and Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, in bordering Indiana) in its exenatide LAR development program.

 

“Ohio’s business climate, including its recent tax reform, was a favorable influence on Amylin’s decision to locate in Butler County,” said Ginger L. Graham, then president and CEO of Amylin. 

 

BioOhio was an integral part of this large opportunity and great company from the start. Rick Colby, founder of Colby and Company, made the initial introduction of Amylin to both the State of Ohio and BioOhio in late 2005. BioOhio was involved in many aspects of the courtship — from assisting Amylin executives in their due diligence of Ohio sites to collaborating with the Ohio Department of Development in crafting incentive and workforce proposals, as well as explaining how important this project could be for the continued growth of Ohio’s biocience industry. 

 

In 2007, BioOhio joined a comprehensive team led by Governor Strickland and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, that included Butler County, City of West Chester, Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Jobs and Family Services, and the University of Cincinnati to help Amylin understand how workforce development and deployment programs could support and accelerate expansion at the West Chester facility. 

As of early 2008, Amylin had hired 230 workers, some of which came via BioOhio sponsored career fairs held throughout the year. They are an active member of BioOhio and great community member. We are proud to help them meet their success.   

 

ViewRay Inc., of Gainesville, Florida, is commercializing a patent-pending technology that uses magnetic resonance images (MRI) to guide gamma rays to precisely target cancerous tumors. The company, which currently employs 10 people, announced in early 2008 that it will move to Ohio, with plans to hire 25 in the first year and 65 the next two.
 

Why Ohio? ViewRay chose northeast Ohio over bioscience hotbeds such as Boston, San Francisco and RTP for the technical and engineering expertise offered by its medical imaging developers and medical institutions, according to William Wells, ViewRay's chief executive. Wells commented that the state's economic development organizations and Third Frontier Project, which invests in bioscience initiatives, also were attractive. The Ohio Department of Development, Cuyahoga County, TeamNEO, BioOhio and BioEnterprise in Cleveland worked together to convince ViewRay northeast Ohio was the ideal location for their future growth. 
 

"They as a team were comprehensively better than anyone that we talked to in the other states," Wells said.
 

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved ViewRay for job creation tax credits estimated at $537,431 over 10 years to help the company relocate to northeast Ohio and equip a facility here.
 

BioOhio’s role is always to explain and educate a company on the statewide supply chain that can come to bear and benefit a company. The medical imaging industry is strong in Ohio, including GE, Philips, Siemens, Hitachi and Toshiba. Once other imaging companies see this strength, they often want to be in Ohio. BioOhio was the statewide industry expert assisting nearly all parties for this opportunity. 

In 2008 Freedom Meditech, Inc., a San Diego-based developer of a non-invasive ocular glucose measurement technology for people with diabetes, opened R&D operations in Ohio. The new facility leverages a product development services agreement with Cleveland-based MAGNET, Inc., and existing engineering and FDA clinical trial expertise and resources available in Ohio.