The Philadelphia area is home to some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, chief among them GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
BIOADVANCE calls itself "the biotechnology greenhouse corporation of Southeastern Pennsylvania." It was founded as part of a $2 billion state initiative to strengthen its commitment to the life sciences industry, including $33.8 million from the commonwealth's share of tobacco settlement monies. BioAdvance invests in emerging biotechnologies; aids the transfer of technology from research laboratories to start-ups and established companies; brings together academic, entrepreneurial, corporate, financial, and government partners; and supports life sciences entrepreneurs. Its portfolio includes 21 seed and 9 pre-seed investments in 30 firms, from Acuity Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia to Yaupon Therapeutics in Radnor.
THE SCIENCE CENTER (often called the University City Science Center) is a physical hub, bringing together entrepreneurs, scientists, and established businesses with the goal of advancing life science and technology companies. Resources range from incubator space with laboratories to "plug ?n play" offices for entrepreneurs, to global consulting services in the development of science and technology parks. The center features its own SC Capital Partners investment fund, management services SC Knowledge and Information Exchange.
WYETH PHARMACEUTICALS, with worldwide headquarters in nearby Collegeville, has a long history of pioneering developments in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, with products in the areas of women's health care, neuroscience, musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular therapy, vaccines and infectious disease, hemophilia, immunology, and oncology. Dr. Robert Ruffolo, the president of Research & Development for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, has received a number of prestigious awards, including Chief Scientific Officer of the Year and the Lorenzini Gold Medal for Biomedical Research.
GENZYME CORP., which has a division in Exton, calls itself "one of the world's foremost biotechnology companies," with annual revenues exceeding $2 billion and more than 8,500 employees worldwide. It says its R&D focuses on rare inherited disorders, kidney disease, orthopedics, transplant and immune disease, cancer, and diagnostic testing.
THE BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAM at the University of Pennsylvania is a dual-degree master's program of Penn's School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering. It offers specialized courses in Genomics, Drug Discovery and Development, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Biomolecular Engineering, and Biotechnology Entrepreneurship.
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL has staffers who track the region's biotech industry, and could provide impartial insights and analysis.
THE CENTER FOR BIOETHICS at the University of Pennsylvania says it is "a leader in bioethics research and its deployment in the ethical, efficient, and compassionate practice of the life sciences and medicine. Under the leadership of its founding director, Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., the Center has become a world-renowned educational and research enterprise that employs over 20 full and part-time faculty."
THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC BIOETHICS CENTER, formed in 1972, moved Philadelphia from Boston in 2004. According to its website, the center "is unique among bioethics organizations in that its message derives from the official teaching of the Catholic Church." The center publishes two journals ("Ethics & Medics" and "The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly"), and its staff ethicists annually handle more than 700 consultations to individuals and institutions.
