Cutting-edge corridor – Promising biotechnology firms continue to grow, thanks in large part to close relationships with UM, MSU

EndoBiologics Inc. of Missoula is a small company with big needs. A biotechnology company with three employees, EndoBiologics is developing new vaccines to protect against bacterial dysentery. It has a research and development agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C.

By Jill FitzSimmons

http://www.mtinbusiness.com/current/bus05.html

About 160 million children in developing countries suffer from bacterial dysentery a year. More than 1 million will die. The military is interested in a vaccine because the disease can be debilitating to troops sent to these developing countries. EndoBiologics also expects to expand into other diseases, such as vaccines to protect against meningitis, said Gary Gustafson, CEO and president.

However, its products are not yet in human clinical trials. Instead, EndoBiologics pays the University of Montana a fee to use its animal laboratories as well as special analytical equipment that would otherwise cost the small company $1 million to purchase.

Without the university, it would be difficult and costly for the company to continue its research work, said Gustafson, who for 14 years worked in the UM microbiology department as a research professor. Without UM, much of the work would have to be contracted out; the company would have no home base for its research.

“It’s just critical to have a university close by,” Gustafson said.

High-tech companies such as EndoBiologics are clustering around Missoula, as well as Bozeman. It’s no secret why – UM and Missoula State University serve as incubators for this growing sector of Montana’s economy. Bozeman alone has about 90 technology-based businesses. The Missoula Area Economic Development Corp. estimates the Missoula area is home to at least another 90 such businesses.

Though the university system isn’t an economic- development agency, it certainly facilitates economic growth in Montana. Innovations made at the universities are being used to advance the state’s economy.

John Mercer of Polson, a member of the Montana Board of Regents and former speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, believes the university system is in a unique position. While political leaders come and go, the university system’s brain power and resources can keep the state’s leadership on task when it comes to economic development, Mercer said.

Without that coordinated plan, you have what you have now – lots of little success stories, but the state itself isn’t yet running on all eight cylinders, he said.

“There has got to be a way to do for all of Montana what have been the big success stories in that (Missoula-Bozeman) corridor,” Mercer said.

Many companies that work with MSU and UM describe their relationships with the universities as a partnership. Coordinating those relationships are Becky Mahurin, director of the Intellectual Property Administration and Technology Transfer at MSU,http://www.montana.edu/wwwvr/index.html and Jon “Tony” Rudbach, assistant vice president of research and economic development at UM http://www.umt.edu/research/ . They serve as liaisons within the university, matching businesses to resources, and also providing expertise on patents and licensing.

The universities serve technology-based companies in various ways. In many cases, they serve as a research arm for companies. Expensive equipment, much of which is not found anywhere else in a community, can be leased at a competitive price.

There’s also that brainpower available – other chemists, physicists and researchers, as well as interns.

LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, http://www.ligocyte.com/ a Bozeman biotechnology company, often collaborates with research scientists at MSU, said Michael McCue, the company’s CEO. A relationship with a university is vital to businesses such as his because of the intensity of the research, McCue said.

The universities also help companies write Small Business Innovation Research http://sbir.state.mt.us/ grant proposals to the federal government and then collaborate with them in doing the research. Scientific Materials Corp. http://www.scientificmaterials.com/ , a Bozeman company that works in crystal-growth technology, has received more than $8 million in SBIR funding.

Missoula and Bozeman also have technology business incubators – the Montana Technology Enterprise Center http://www.montec.org in Missoula and the TechRanch http://www.techranch.org in Bozeman – that foster the growth of high-tech and biotech companies while working closely with the universities. Some of these budding companies were started by scientists who spun their work at the universities into private companies.

Because the universities aren’t commercial entities, the products developed in their laboratories by their scientists can be transferred to private companies. This is often referred to as “technology transfer.” LigoCyte has licensed six of MSU’s technologies. Faculty members develop a patent that can be licensed to other companies. The faculty member and university then receive royalty payments.

However, for many faculty members, they only want to see their product put to use, Mahurin said. Many are also devoted to trying to grow Montana’s economy, she said.

Top-quality education and training will be vital in a new information-based economy, Rudbach said. The university system needs to be leaders in this area, he added.

Scientific Materials has 23 employees, 14 of whom are MSU graduates. Four employees have earned doctorates from MSU. For LigoCyte, 65 percent of its 33 employees have received degrees from MSU or UM. Fifteen additional employees will be hired in the next six months. About 75 percent of those people will have received degrees from MSU.

Mercer said many people don’t recognize how powerful a resource the universities are for economic growth.

The universities are doing a better job of getting their message out to the public, Mahurin said. And that message, she said, is that the university system is developing technologies that not only will boost Montana’s economy but improve lives around the world.

Copyright 2004
Missoulian.com