Biotech Big at North Carolina Universities

Biotech, pharmaceutical and biomedical spinoffs represent more than three-fourths of the economic development portfolios held by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham. Why? Because they are home to medical and pharmaceutical schools.

Even North Carolina State University, which has been well known for spawning electronics businesses, is pushing into the biotechnology arena with two startups preparing to spin out. Trying to regain momentum lost since the dot-com demise three years ago, NCSU has overhauled its economic development effort and is beginning to focus on its life science strengths - the veterinary school, crop and timber research, and chemical engineering.

Go here to read more about what North Carolina's major universities are doing in the biotech field.