Florida biotech numbers rise as U.S. numbers fall

By Anthony Clark
Business editor, Gainesville Sun

The biotechnology industry continued to grow in Florida over the past three years while the number of companies decreased nationwide, according to the University of Florida.

The number of companies was up 21 percent with 29 new companies since 2008 for a total of 165 statewide, according to the Florida BioDatabase, which is maintained by UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.

Nationwide, the U.S. biotech sector lost 15-25 percent of public companies and 5-10 percent of privately held companies over the same period, according to Bloomberg News and Ernst & Young reports.

Five of the new companies are in Alachua County -- Applied Food Technologies, Bikam, Captozyme, DiaCarta and eTect. The area would have had more, but some companies folded, moved or were acquired, said Michael Schmitt, database editor.

The North Central Florida region has 20 percent of the state’s biotech companies. Other clusters are in South Florida and Tampa.

Total investment funding for biotech was up 37 percent in 2010 to $158 million in Florida, while investing has been relatively flat nationwide, according to the report. The sector drew $75 million in funds statewide for the first quarter of this year.

The growth in Florida is being driven by research institutes such as Scripps, Sanford Burnham, Torrey Pines and Max Planck and major public universities such as UF.

Economic development officials see the growth of technical industries such as biotech as an important hedge against reliance on more volatile industries such as tourism, real estate and agriculture.