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The Place to Be
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A heart valve in the process of closing is on display at the Dean Biomedical Research Building.
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Published: May 18, 2008
There's a simple litmus test for the viability of Piedmont Triad Research Park as a life-sciences hub, according to analysts and economists.
The park will have arrived when it attracts life-sciences companies, particularly in biotechnology and nanotechnology, that could be based anywhere but choose here as the most advantageous place to do research and business.
Local, state and even international officials say that the local cluster has taken significant strides recently toward that quest in terms of research and reputation.
Case in point: The city is playing host to the state's top biotech conference for the second time in three years. The conference, in its 17th year, had been held primarily in Research Triangle Park.
About 1,000 participants are expected to attend Biotech 2008, which will be Monday and Tuesday at the Benton Convention Center. As the largest biotech conference on the East Coast, it attracts research leaders, legislators and entrepreneurs from throughout the country.
Being host to conference has helped put Winston-Salem and the Triad "on the radar screens of key influencers in the national biotech arena," said Gayle Anderson, the president and chief executive of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has been a major advocate of the park since the proposal was made public in 1993.
"We have been told that those attending the first conference here were very surprised by the level of biotech activity in the Triad, and particularly in Winston-Salem," Anderson said. "Word-of-mouth promotion by biotech-industry professionals gives us credibility that paid advertising can't achieve."
Foremost in branding the park have been recent local research developments, such as the opening of a wet lab in December and, in April, a $42.5 million federal grant targeting regenerative medicine.
About 885 people work at the research park among 41 tenants, a work force that is slightly ahead of projections made in 2003. Among the companies are 33 that are not affiliated with Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which owns the research park. There are eight Wake Forest programs at the park, including the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. City of Winston-Salem officials estimate that the park will have 10,000 jobs by 2014.
But close in importance is proving the area's quality of life and the embracing by elected, corporate and civic leaders of life sciences as an economic engine, officials say.
Jonas Hafstrom, the Swedish ambassador to the United States, noted all three factors during a tour of the research park May 1. His visit, arranged by the Winston-Salem law firm of Wall Esleeck Babcock, was aimed in part at fostering better life-sciences ties between the two countries.
"My visit to the Piedmont Triad Research Park was really an eye-opener," Hafstrom said. "The close collaboration between city officials and new companies trying to bring their innovations to market was really impressive.
"The ground-breaking research and life-changing concrete results coming from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, led by Dr. Anthony Atala, was most exciting to hear about and to actually see what is being done in the area of tissue and organ regeneration."
The institute, which is part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, was awarded a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. It will share the lead role in an academic consortium with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. The grant focuses on the use of regenerative treatment for lost limbs or severe burns -- the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hafstrom also said he was impressed with "such positive interaction and cooperation within the community that I felt very upbeat and encouraged about the future of the city of Winston-Salem."
"This is a city that is determined to adapt to the trends in our globalized world and provide a high quality of life for its citizens," he said.
Those same attributes were raised by some of the 40 participants at an international nanotechnology conference on hyperthermia and cancer held in April at the Brookstown Inn, said David Carroll, the director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Medicine at Wake Forest University.
"There were so many participants who said they were blown away by Winston-Salem and also said they specifically wanted to come back here," Carroll said.
"They got to enjoy the city, the local wine society and the great arts scene. That did nearly as much as much to establish Winston-Salem as a centerpiece for small therapeutic companies as what we did during the days scientifically,'' he said.
"That's why it's not a real leap to think some of these researchers and companies could decide to move here to take advantage of the infrastructure of a growing biotech hub," Carroll said. "Having the state biotech conference here again just provides more momentum to those efforts."
The local life-sciences community will be well represented at Biotech 2008.
Tengion Inc. and Entegrion Inc. are two of three showcase presenters Monday.
Tengion, which has operations in the research park, is best known for the regenerative-medicine research of Atala, its founder.
Entegrion, a biomedical group based in Research Triangle Park, has formed a partnership with Carolina Narrow Fabric Co. of Winston-Salem on Stasilon. It is a product that accelerates the clotting of blood in major external wounds through the use of bamboo and glass fibers in a woven fabric. Entegrion recently gained Food and Drug Administration clearance for the use of Stasilon as an over-the-counter product.
On Tuesday, Don deBethizy, the president and chief executive of Targacept Inc., is participating in a panel discussion on financial challenges facing emerging biotech companies. Targacept is developing drugs based on nicotine research that will treat diseases of the central nervous system.
The conference also features a forum on biotech initiatives in the state, a presentation by former Gov. Jim Hunt on the history of the industry in the state, a panel on strategies for winning U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for medicine and other products, and a presentation on the effect of globalization on biotech.
The local enthusiasm and industry support makes Winston-Salem "a desirable location," said Jessica Hegele, the senior manager of conference for the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, which is the primary organizer of the conference.
"Winston-Salem is a hidden treasure for North Carolina's biotechnology and life-science industries," Hegele said. "New research conducting in the Triad by innovators, such as Dr. Anthony Atala, and nationally accredited organizations, such as CED, are aiding in the recognition of the Piedmont Triad Research Park as a desirable home for biotech startups."
Bob McCoy, the president of Visit Winston-Salem, said that Biotech 2008 is expected to generate 220 room nights and a projected direct spending by participants of more than $160,000.
"Combined with the assets of the research park, hosting this prestigious meeting here positions us well to generate more meetings business in this emerging market," McCoy said.
One such meeting is the inaugural Biothreat Agents workshop that will be held May 28 at the research park. It is being sponsored by Clean Earth Technologies LLC, another research-park tenant, and N.C. State University.
"It's critically important that the leaders in the biotech industry recognize our assets and capabilities in the Triad so that they don't think of North Carolina as having just a single concentration of intellectual capital, bio-science companies and trained employees (in Research Triangle Park)," said Anderson, the chief executive of the chamber.
"We need to educate venture capitalists and potential early-stage investors about the resources we have and make them comfortable that biotech companies can flourish in the Triad."
Bill Dean, the president of Idealliance, which manages the park, said that the local projects, particularly from the regenerative-medicine institute, could provide momentum toward attracting enough brainpower to form a hub for regenerative-medicine research.
Dean said he understand why some analysts support the "can go anywhere" litmus test for the park, although he believes that branding the park for its increasing intellectual know-how and tech development is a more important criteria. "This park is still arriving, and likely will always be arriving because successful research areas never stop growing because technology keeps changing and the economy keeps changing," Dean said.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
Life-sciences developments
The local life-sciences cluster has produced several major headlines in the past 12 months.
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TARGACEPT INC. landed a major drug-development agreement in July with GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
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WET LAB LAUNCH PAD opened in December at Piedmont Triad Research Park.
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WINSTON-SALEM is named in January as one of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2008 by Intelligent Community Forum.
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THE INSTITUTE OF REGENERATIVE MEDICINE, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, is chosen in April as a co-leader for a five-year, $42.5 million project by the U.S. Defense Department.
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PIEDMONT TRIAD RESEARCH PARK is being considered as the home of a proposed N.C. Translational NanoMedicine Institute. Also, park officials continue negotiations with a Baltimore real-estate company on a 60-acre, mixed-use project that would renovate 1.1 million square feet of former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. warehouses.
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