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Biotech Startups May Get a Head Start

BY STEVE LACKMEYER

Published: November 20, 2008

The Oklahoman City Redevelopment Authority and the Presbyterian Health Foundation are negotiating a plan that would create a 'mobile incubator' to attract and then retain startup biotech companies.

The deal, which was approved in concept Wednesday by the redevelopment authority (a trust run by the Urban Renewal Authority), calls for tax increment finance funds to be used to buy space from the foundation's research park at NE 8 and Lincoln Boulevard.

That space in turn would be leased back to the foundation for a $1 per year. The foundation in turn would be able to use the space as an incubator for startups. The amount of space to be bought and leased is yet to be determined.

Mike Anderson, president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation, said the first beneficiary will likely be Orthocare Innovations, a startup with 15 employees that is expected to grow to 115 within the next two years. 'It sounds fast, but they will do it,' Anderson said. 'They are that good. They have the right CEO, the right CFO and the right scientists.'

How It Works

Orthocare Innovations is a Washington-based company that expanded to Oklahoma City in April when it acquired Martin bionics, a prosthetics technology research company. Anderson said the company is on the 'fast track' to obtaining FDA approval for its prosthetics, which rely on nanotechnology to provide lifelike limb movements for amputees.

Michael Joseph, an attorney with McAfee & Taft assisting on the agreement, said it allows for the creation of a 'mobile incubator' that allows a start-up to stay in place and grow once it reaches profitability and no longer needs assistance. 'Rather than moving all that apparatus to expand and be a real company, we'll let them stay and expand and be a real company' Joseph said. 'And we move that space to another part of the complex and use it for another company. You incubate science, not space. The science itself determines what is in the space.'

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