$100 million is expected to attract top doctors, fund research for cures

By Eric Swedlund

arizona daily star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.26.2006

Arizona’s biosciences will receive a $100 million donation today that officials predict will spur medical and scientific breakthroughs, create higher-paying jobs, attract new companies and position the state as a high-tech leader.

The gift from Phoenix’s Stardust Charitable Group is by far the largest private donation yet for Arizona’s fast-growing bioscience sector, which includes medicine, genomics, pharmacology and other disciplines.

Among other goals, the money will be used to:

-Attract top doctors and scientists.

-Help pay for research into disease treatment, cures and new drugs, including work at the University of Arizona.

-Form technology companies to connect the laboratory and the marketplace.

Opinion by Richard Ducote : Legislature brightening state’s future in bioscience

Opinion by Richard Ducote

Proof of climate change is at hand. Last week, a $150 million commitment to science sailed through a key committee of the Arizona Legislature.

Yes, the Arizona Legislature, home of the whopper alt-fuel disaster a few years back and a place where education funding usually struggles for air.

Suddenly, a beam of enlightenment permeates the place and Arizona’s future looks better.

The state is on the verge of committing serious money to help boost our standing in the field of bioscience.

The aptly named Arizona 21st Century Competitive Initiative Fund has drawn a $100 million matching commitment from the private Stardust Charitable Group. Finally, the state can compete on the same court with serious research centers nationally.

State may allot $25M to keep best minds

The hope is that those scientists and professors would produce spinoff companies, high-pay jobs.

CRAIG HARRIS

The Arizona Republic

Arizona is looking to create a massive pool of money to recruit and retain some of the smartest technology talent in hopes that the investment will produce new companies and high-wage jobs.

Supporters say that the $25 million price tag is eye-popping but that compared with what other states have done, Arizona is just scratching the surface.

So says Rep. Bill Konopnicki, a Republican lawmaker who is pushing Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano’s Innovation Arizona proposal. If approved, it would allow Arizona to invest in the knowledge economy, scientists and professors who bring with them world-class expertise and the hope that their inventions will produce spin-off companies.

Drug research institute adds liaison from UA

By David Wichner

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The retired head of research at the University of Arizona has joined the Tucson-based Critical Path Institute, a UA- and FDA-affiliated drug research institute, as head of its affiliations with research universities.

Richard C. Powell, who retired as UA vice president of research and graduate programs in July, started Wednesday as C-Path’s director of academic partnerships.

C-Path, a nonprofit partnership of the University of Arizona, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the technology development firm SRI International Inc., was formed to study ways to speed the approval of promising new medicines while improving drug safety.

In his new post, Powell says he’ll be working with administrators and faculty at the UA and, in the future, other schools, to get them working with C-Path on specific projects.