Is biotech industry really Augusta's 'future?'

"Atlanta may be the state capital of Georgia, but Augusta is fast becoming known as the biotech capital of the Peach State."

- www.bioindustry.com

You might have heard the old line about Brazil, that it's the "country of the future and always will be." Sometimes I feel the same way about Augusta's "industry of the future:" biotechnology. I don't like admitting this publicly, but it's true: I often wonder whether a life-sciences industry will truly blossom here, or at the very least have a significant economic impact. I can't help it - my livelihood is based on asking questions.*

There's no doubt the overall medical industry ( hospitals, physicians' offices, etc.) powers the local economy. Labor force statistics show that nearly one in every four jobs in the market is tied in one way or another to health care .

When it comes to biobusiness, however, the picture is not as clear.

For more than a decade , community leaders have been ultra-serious about using the region's enormous health care infrastructure - specifically the brainiac researchers at the Medical College of Georgia - to create profit-producing, job-creating companies.

Despite the intense focus, the construction of two biobusiness incubators, the formation of numerous coalitions and marketing groups and a legislative act to create a statewide government authority based in Augusta, the city's scientific community has commercialized only a handful of bona fide businesses.

Lack of funding for start-up ventures is a challenge. There is no venture capital in Augusta,** and the amount of federal research dollars flowing into the city remains lower than what most biotech industry boosters would like to see. (Based on 2005 figures, MCG scored $34.9 million in funds from the National Institutes of Health, most in the form of research grants. Compare that to the $80.2 million that went to the Medical University of South Carolina and the $191.2 million that went to the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine.)

Oh, one other thing, our region's political clout (essential for infrastructure creation and improvements) is at an all-time low at the state and federal level thanks to recent deaths, election losses and imprisonments of several area politcos.

As for local government leadership, well … I'm not sure some of them even know how to spell "biotechnology."

Having said all that, you might assume I think trying to develop a biotech sector is a pipe dream, a waste of time.

On the contrary, I believe we should, as Steve Perry might say, don't stop believin' and hold on to that feelin' that an Augusta medical business can invent the next miracle drug or breakthrough surgical device.

This city's health care institutions continue to recruit some of the best and brightest medical experts in the country, each one capable of turning a discovery into a company.

One last thought to keep in mind: In the grand scheme of things, we're still early in the game. Community leaders in Birmingham, for example, started their biotech initiatives about 20 years before Augusta began getting serious.

I hope my occasional doubts about the local biotech industry prove to be unfounded. As for Brazil: Manter seus pés na terra e mantê-los alcançar para as estrelas!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GAMBLE: You might not know it, but Augusta came very close to losing its Procter & Gamble powdered detergent plant a few years ago. The company decided against closing the south Augusta plant, choosing instead to close its facility in Canada, after local officials granted the company a big cut on its property taxes.

P&G's presence in Georgia continues to grow. Just last week, the consumer products giant announced it would expand its paper towel and bathroom tissue plant in Albany, Ga.

The $35 million investment and 34 new jobs at the 1,200-employee factory are sure to be appreciated in a town that has lost 18,000 manufacturing jobs since 1997.

NO FINANCING TROUBLE HERE: Start-up air taxi company ImagineAir last week said it signed a financing deal with investment bankers RockBridge Capital Partners Inc. to raise $18.2 million to add a many as 24 aircraft to its fleet.

The suburban Atlanta-based company, founded and bankrolled by Augusta physician Paul Fischer, wants to add more Cirrus SR22 propeller aircraft and bring its first Eclipse 500 jets online.

The company is one of a few small carriers positioning itself as a hybrid between a commercial air carrier and a charter service. Check them out at www.flyimagineair.com.

BIG DEAL (NO, REALLY): You know Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial Corp. as the people behind the Evans Town Park, the new Home Depot shopping center and several other retail and office buildings around town.

What you might not know is that the company does as much business outside the Augusta area as it does inside.

Case in point: the company's recent sale of its Premier Landing shopping center in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., for $17 million.

The 400,000-square-foot Wal-Mart- and Belk-anchored retail center is just one of several developments the company is involved with in a five-state area.

A COLD ONE FOR THE ROAD: I don't smoke or buy lottery tickets, and I pay for my gas at the pump. Thus, I don't have many reasons to actually go inside one of the 856 (OK, OK, 45) Circle K stores in the Augusta area. But if I did, I would surely see the company's own brand of energy drink, GazZu.

The newly created drink, developed through a partnership with beverage company BooKoo Energy, is only available right now in the Southeast.

SHOCKER OF THE WEEK: It's a good thing I don't gamble, because I would be an amputee right now. I would have bet my right arm that the recent demolition of Lone Star Steakhouse on Washington Road was the work of Augusta National Golf Club.
After all, that would fit the club's M.O. of acquiring adjacent properties (155 acres and counting) and clearing the land as part of its master plan to do, um, uh, whatever it wants.

So what will the property house now? A Walgreen s drug store.

Either Augusta National didn't want the land, or it wasn't willing to ante up more than the $2.08 million that the drugstore chain's real estate folks spent on the corner lot.

* It's not a glamorous path to follow, kids. I recommend pursuing a career in hedge fund management.

** There is a perennial rumor that a group of local business leaders is "working on" creating a local venture capital fund. As best as I can tell, the closest the city has come to getting venture capital was a 2005 announcement by Columbia-based East Bay Capital Ventures to create a $16 million Augusta fund.

We haven't heard from them since.