Monday, February 13, 2012

Aurora Sentinel: 'Victories for CID4 a victory for Colorado bioscience industry, too'

Quoting from the January 26th article by Brandon Johansson:

"The organization, which stands for Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development, helped Sophono get its start, providing some initial investment capital that helped Sophono get off the ground. Last year’s jobs announcement from Sophono was part of 16 new, direct jobs created in the first quarter of 2011 by a company affiliated with CID4, according to CID4’s annual metric report released last month...

Kevin Smith, the organization’s CEO, said in terms of direct jobs, that proved to be CID4’s biggest quarter since the organization got its start in 2009...

Smith said that in the case of PeptiVir, a company working to develop an influenza vaccine, the CID4 investment helped the company to leverage the state for an additional grant.

'It was a perfect example,' he said.

Holli Riebel, CEO of the Colorado Bioscience Association, said in situations like that, CID4 has played an important role for bioscience companies.

When those companies get their start, they often don’t have the finances necessary to test their product, let alone take it to market, she said. CID4 provides the initial capital that companies need to help them seek other forms of investment, including government grants.

'Every little bit moves along to the next stage and makes them more attractive to bigger donors,' she said."

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