Indiana has propelled itself into the upper echelons of the life sciences industry. It’s a Top Five life sciences state overall and the fourth biggest medtech state. But it still isn’t mentioned in the same breath as California or Boston.
Over the next decade, that could change. A $360 million collaboration among BioCrossroads, the state’s major research institutions and industry (think the likes of Eli Lilly, Roche Diagnostics, Cook Medical, Biomet, IU Health and even ag companies) will form a public-private nonprofit that unites commercial research and academia: the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute.
The first major focus of the Institute will be obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and nutrition issues — like everyone else. But the IBRI team will tackle the problem from many angles. This is the unique aspect: It’s not just healthcare, medtech or pharma. It’s all of the above, plus agriculture, bioinformatics, engineering and nanotechnology. The research of “Indiana fellows” will drive innovation; corporate partners will help make room for commercial opportunity; Indiana University, Purdue University and Notre Dame will also offer support.
The Institute will prove to be a true “proof-of-concept” for BioCrossroads, BioCrossroads President David Johnson said, which serves as “a catalyst for the continued growth of Indiana’s robust life sciences industry.”
What started as a discussion at a dinner party about a year ago is shaping up to be the project that could — if successful — shape the landscape of the Hoosier state’s future economy, an economy still looking for a viable replacement for its factory-town manufacturing heroes.
In fact, the life sciences industry already makes up a third of Indiana’s exports and contributes $50 billion to the state’s economy, according to IBRI.
Roche Diagnostics Chief Financial Officer and Senior VP Wayne Burris said the question that drove the initial idea was “How do we keep this life science innovation growing in Indiana with all the competition from state to state and globally?” The idea of IBRI was formed from the beginning, Burris said. (Roche Diagnostics, as a corporate partner of IBRI, has put $4.5 million toward the project already.)
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.
Of the $50 million already raised, the state of Indiana has committed $25 million. The state government is taking the project as seriously as its tax dollars.
Though Johnson said IBRI will open in sequences, in full swing a lot closer to 2020 than 2010, the Institute has already created a lot of momentum. The $50 million of its $360 million goal was garnered about six months into its incorporation and the board has made headway on IP and licensing policies and on the search for the inaugural CEO. Johnson said he expects the board will have the right candidate in its sights by mid-2014.
“The first clear presence it will have beyond incorporation will really be in the person of the CEO we hire,” Johnson said. “We’re looking for an exceptional person.”
That person will have to lead the charge on both raising the remaining $310 million needed to see IBRI through, as well as recruit the “Indiana fellows,” research scientists who will drive innovation at the Institute. It’s a tall order.
Johnson said the right candidate needs to be someone who can see true connectivity between “academic inspiration and commercial opportunity.” That means significant academic accomplishments, industry experience (perhaps on the discovery side) and his or her own sense of enterprising ambition, plus a certain comfort level with being a public figure.
Burris, also on the IBRI board, was even more specific.
“When I think about the potential candidate, often I find myself thinking of a large university president but at the same time, they have to have a clinical background in order to attract the right fellows. . . to spur the innovation we need for IBRI to be successful,” he said.
Johnson said the CEO will move the Institute into a temporary facility, likely by the end of 2014.
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