Hospitals

MedCity morning read, Wednesday, Jan. 28

Health science is big business. And Battelle, the Columbus research institution, is involved in health science in a big way, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

By Mary Vanac on January 28, 2009 7:39 am

Health science is big business. And Battelle, the Columbus research institution, is involved in health science in a big way, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

In the final installment of a four-part series on Battelle, Dispatch writer Kevin Mayhood takes a look at some of Battelle’s contracts to research and develop health and medical technologies and devices – currently $1 billion-worth.

Much of that business is in developing mainstream products, such as drugs and cell therapies.

Battelle is expanding its health science practice. This month, the institution announced it would invest more than $200 million to update and expand biotechnology laboratories, and build a health and life sciences research lab at two Columbus-area campuses, Mayhood said.

Battelle is expecting biotech businesses to grow rapidly in the next five years, so it wants to be ready. Now is a strategic time to invest, despite the economy’s woes.

“There are no more wonder drugs,” Barbara Kuntz, president of  Battelle’s health and life sciences section, told the Dispatch. But as pharmaceutical, medical device and biologics companies move toward personalized medicine, “There will be many more drugs that need development and testing,” Kuntz said.

The 35 Battelle employees in Cleveland develop programs and services in technology-based economic development, technology commercialization and strategic technology positioning in industries that include life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

Read the whole Battelle series here.

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