"It was the culmination of a lot of hard work," says the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. "It was not a sure thing by any means."
In the end, Tampa beat out Pennsylvania and other Florida locations to land the crown jewel of research facilities:
,
teaming the world's second- largest drug maker with the renowned cancer hospital to develop customized treatments for patients.
The 50,000- sq.- ft. facility will create 165 jobs averaging $80,000 in annual wages. The project will receive $43.5 million in state and local incentives. In addition, at least six biotech firms have expressed interest in moving to the Tampa Bay Area to work with the project, bringing an estimated 140 additional jobs.
The story of how Merck and Moffitt came together to form a groundbreaking partnership parallels the story of how second- and third- tier communities are emerging as competitive locations for top- dollar R&D projects in the life sciences sector.
As drug and biotech companies look for new solutions to humanity's health problems, communities around North America are stepping up to provide innovative ideas and new alliances.
Ten years ago, top R D facility projects would consider perhaps a handful of locations:
San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland or the Research Triangle in North Carolina.
Today, armed with new sources of venture capital and government incentives, other locations are emerging to compete with the "gold- standard" locations. Places like Tampa, Kannapolis, N.C., and West Lafayette, Ind., are competing for – and winning – some of the biggest projects in biomedical R&D.
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