New M2Gen headquarters expected to create more jobs - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
First announced in late M2Gen hasreceived $28 million in support from Hillsborough County, $15 million from Floridaa and $2 million from the city of Tampa, including When M2Gen originated as an outgrowthh of Moffitt’s Total Cancer Care Moffitt went out looking for an industry partner that woul assist in funding and work in a collaborative manner to understand how best to develop drugs, said Rick M2Gen COO. Pharmaceutical company (NYSE:MRK) bought into and understood the Garrison said.
Although Mercj declined comment, its total investment is said by M2Gejn to be multiple times that ofHillsborough County’s So far, M2Gen has recruited 26,000 people to participatr in a genomic study through a networj of nine hospitals in Floridqa and seven outside the state. Through these sites, M2Genj employs 30 people in the Florida hospitals and 24 outsidwthe state, and an additional 60 employeesa report directly to the M2Gen In addition to office and laboratorg space, the headquarters will house a robotic-driven freezer” for storage of tissue samplea for the study, Garrison said.
Genomicf information from these samples is the basisz for an electronic database that could speedf up the drug development process and save tens of millionsd of dollars acrossseveral industries, making M2Gen a “valued proposition” for patients, physicians, and the biotec and pharmacy industries, Garrisonm said. By 2011, M2Gen expects to create 165 directg jobsin Florida, with the majoritty in Hillsborough County, and an additional 350 indirect for about 500 total jobs. In the short M2Gen will provide an immediate boost tothe economy, said Hillsborougb County Commissioner Mark Sharpe.
In addition to creatintg direct employment, the venture will need businesse s to provide support that could rang from medical devices topaper copies, Sharpd said. In the first of many buildings plannexd fora 30-acre campusx on McKinley Drive, M2Gen creates potentia for “spin-off” and “follow-on” companies, said Gene Gray, economic development director for Hillsborough County. Once a “medica district” or a “high-tech shapes up, the opportunities for any vendor involved in the equipment and materialss forthe life-science industry could multiply. “Ij think we’re going to see a significant ripple Gray said.