Perspectives on Biotech and Who Wins

"Everybody thinks they're going to be the next biotech hot spot," says Doug Darr, 48, vice president and chief scientific officer of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG).

Darr, who served as VP of business and technology development at the NC Biotech Center for eight years, left that position citing strategic-thinking differences with the Center's new CEO, Leslie Alexandre, in 2002. He joined the PLSG a few months ago.

The Internet site Genome Web recently quoted Darr about Florida's efforts to make Palm Beach one of those biotech hot spots by spending $570 million in taxpayer funds to help establish a Scripps Research Institute nearby.

"Florida will recoup its investment," he said, "But will it be the next biotech hot spot? I doubt it." Instead, Darr compares the Florida effort to establishing of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the RTP in the early 1970s.

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