Published: 06.28.2008

Local C-Path leads project for drug-firm info sharing

By Dale Quinn

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

For the first time, 17 major pharmaceutical companies have agreed to share information to fight major diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, said the president of the Tucson-based non-profit institute that’s leading a drug-safety consortium.

The companies still need to hammer out the legal details of such an agreement, and that could take until the fall, said Dr. Raymond Woosley, the president and CEO of the Critical Path Institute, known as C-Path.

“One of the reasons drugs have been failing, even though they’ve had millions of dollars of lab work … (is that) most of the time we don’t understand the diseases well enough,” Woosley said.

Published: 06.25.2008

Ariz. ranks 17th on climate for science, tech

Arizona’s science and technology assets rank 17th among the 50 states, unchanged from four years ago, according to an index released by an independent think tank.

The Milken Institute’s 2008 State Technology and Science Index looked at each state’s research and development, how much money entrepreneurs were willing to risk and whether or not states were able to attract talented workers, among other factors.

Arizona’s overall rank remained the same as it did in 2004, the last time the Milken Institute released the index.

The state did break into the top 10 — with a rank of 10th — in the area of risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure.

In the overall rankings, Mississippi ranked 50th among the states, with West Virginia at 49th and Arkansas at 48th.