The Biotechnology Industry Organization international convention returns to Chicago this week — a nod to the importance of pharmaceutical and therapeutic companies in Midwestern states like Ohio.
Drugmaking has history in Ohio.
From Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: PG) in Cincinnati (sold last year to Irish drug company Warner Chilcott), to generic drugmakers Ben Venue Laboratories (Bedford) and Roxane Laboratories (Columbus), both part of German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim, Ohio is home to 150 drug and therapy facilities, according to the Ohio Bioscience Resource Directory created by BioOhio, the state’s bioscience company developer.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Stem cell and regenerative medicine companies like Athersys Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHX) in Cleveland and small molecule discovery and development company Akebia Therapeutics Inc. in Cincinnati are relative newcomers. Emerging diagnostics companies like Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. in Athens and Blue Ash Therapeutics in Cincinnati are joining industry stalwart Meridian Bioscience Inc. (Nasdaq: VIVO) in Cincinnati.
Drug delivery companies like AssureRx in Cincinnati are positioning Ohio in the emerging industry of personalized medicine. Ganeden Biotech in Mayfield Heights makes probiotics that encourage health. And contract drugmakers and developers like Ricerca Biosciences in Concord, Kendle International (Nasdaq: KNDL) in Columbus and the Charles Rivers Laboratories unit in Spencerville are helping to develop the next generation of drugs.
While it’s not the biggest segment in the Ohio biotech industry, pharmaceutical and therapeutics is a growing segment. In 2009, projects of note included expansions in Columbus/Dublin by science and technology institute Battelle, which created 200 jobs with an investment of $200 million, and in Bedford Heights by generic injectable drugmaker Ben Venue, which created 200 jobs with an investment of $150 million, according to the Ohio Bioscience Growth Report 2009 by BioOhio.
Overall jobs in the industry segment grew 47 percent to 9,447 in 2008 from 6,443 in 2000, according to the BioOhio growth report.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The Ohio Third Frontier project, which is up for a four-year extension on the May 4 ballot as Issue 1, made its first and some of its largest investments in the state’s biomedical industry.
“Ohio’s aggressive and sound investment strategies in the biosciences are delivering results in the form of jobs, new and recruited companies, and rapidly increasing growth capital,” according to John F. Lewis Jr., BioOhio vice president, in the concluding remarks of his organization’s growth report.
