Life is seldom easy for a startup company and Cook Biotech was no different. There were unexpected bumps along the way.

Fortunately, however, the company had one major asset in its favor in those early days — its connection with the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Ind. Leasing 5,000 square feet in the park, Cook Biotech was able to take advantage of the perks of a research park, as well as receive counsel and wisdom from executives of older businesses, all of which were once in Cook Biotech’s shoes, and all of which are fellow Purdue Research Park tenants.

“It would have been very difficult, if not impossible to grow the company in isolation,” said Mark Bleyer, president of Cook Biotech. “I don’t think we would have accomplished the task.”

But Cook Biotech was able to accomplish the task. Since 1995, the company has leased an additional 5,000 square feet, then acquired the entire 10,000 square foot facility. And in May, the company broke ground on a new 55,000 square foot manufacturing, research and development facility, which will also be located in the park. The new facility will add more high-tech jobs to its current 70-employee base. The new building is scheduled for completion in 2004.

Along the way, the company has received 11 Food and Drug Administration clearances for products used to help patients undergoing wound care, burn management, hernia repair, urological procedures and general surgery. There have also been several worldwide clearances, allowing Cook Biotech to sell its products in Europe, Asia and South America.

Cook Biotech was able to buck the odds — four out of five startup companies eventually fail — in part because it had a research park behind it.

A research park can be a boon to startup companies by providing affordable office and laboratory space, council and direction, and administrative and legal assistance.

A university research park or technology incubator has existing or planned land and buildings designed primarily for research and development facilities, high-tech and science-based companies; a contractual and/or formal ownership or operational relationship with one or more universities or other institutions of higher education and science research; a role in promoting research and development, assisting in the growth of new ventures and promoting economic development; and a role in aiding the transfer of technology and business skills between the university and industry tenants.

“They [startup companies] usually don’t have a lot of cash, and the owners, while highly technical, probably have little savvy in marketing and running a business,” said Greg Deason, director of research park development for the Purdue Research Park. “We can help these companies directly and indirectly.”

The Cook Biotech expansion is also a boon to the research park. The project triggered a program to encourage high-tech development in certified technology parks. Shortly after the groundbreaking, the research park became Indiana’s first certified technology park, the state’s newest economic development tool for promoting high-tech industries.

Because of the designation, the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission will collect certain income, sales and property taxes generated by the creation of high-tech jobs in the park. The commission will reinvest that money back into the park for improvements, operation and maintenance of facilities, payment of interest and principal on bonds, and other business-generating activities.

The Purdue Research Park houses more than 90 companies employing 2,500 people. Many of these companies are developing Purdue-licensed technologies.

Purdue Research Park offers any technology-based company that wants to form strong ties to the university an opportunity to become a tenant. Start-up ventures can lease space in the park’s 150,000 square foot business incubation complex.

Established companies may choose to build their own facilities in the park, and satellite offices of larger firms can take advantage of incentive-bundled alternatives.

Startup companies are given six-month leases, which are continually renewed. But once companies reach 5,000 square feet of space, they move into a private facility inside Purdue Research Park.

“The incubation space is a sparse resource,” Deason said. “It is not intended for companies to be there forever. And as companies grow, their reliance on our services begins to diminish.”

While Purdue bases its graduation on space, the Virginia Biotech Park bases its graduation criteria on time.

Virginia Biotech, a joint initiative of the commonwealth of Virginia, city of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, offers startup companies a one-year lease, with options to renew for two years.

This allows startup companies to have access to laboratory and office space for only $1,500 a month in rent. Under normal circumstances, renting such facilities could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“You can save what money you have for more important aspects of your business,” said David Lohr, director of business development for Virginia Biotech.

Companies must go before a tenant selection process and provide 16 elements of due diligence, including a 2-page executive summary or business plan. They must state their intended milestones during the first year of operation, and the committee monitors their progress.

“A company could be asked to depart early if it isn’t making progress,” Lohr said.

If all goes well, however, companies usually have between five and 10 employees, have secured their first round of financing and are ready to move into between 1,500 and 3,000 square feet of space.

At that point, Virginia Biotech graduates those companies into a multi-tenant private facility in the research park.

Virginia Biotech has 16 business partners in the Richmond area, all of which have arrangements to support the park with substantially reduced rates for services, Lohr said. For example, a Richmond law firm provides a 50 percent discount rate on work hours.

Two biopharmaceutical companies that have graduated from the Virginia Biotech Research Park are Allos Therapeutics Inc. and Insmed Inc. Both have gone from startup companies to publicly traded firms at the cusp of biotechnology research.

Allos is attempting to develop and commercialize drugs for improving cancer treatments. Since 1994, the company has been developing efaproxiral, which is currently in late-stage Phase 3 trials for the treatment of patients with brain metastases.

Insmed is focused on the development of drug candidates for the treatment of metabolic diseases. The company has an objective of getting a new drug to treat growth hormone insensitivity syndrome to market by late next year. The company went public in June 2000.

Perhaps the best known of all research parks in the United States is the 7,000-acre Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Home to about 140 organizations and more than 38,000 employees, RTP is the largest research park in the country. It encompasses the region surrounding Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University.

RTP company Bayer Biological Products recently developed a model that will help estimate global demand for Factor VIII (F-VIII), a treatment used for hemophilia A patients. More comprehensive knowledge of F-VIII demand will help manufacturers provide adequate supplies of the therapy and allow healthcare agencies to plan for adequate reimbursement strategies, according to the company.

“The more we know about the needs of the global hemophilia community, the better we can respond to those needs,” said Gunnar Riemann, president of Bayer Biological Products Division.

The University of South Florida in Tampa Bay is taking a step toward developing high-tech businesses and research partnerships. USF will build two new buildings in its research park, adding more than 200,000 square feet of space for laboratories, offices for corporate partners, an expanded 30,000 square foot business incubator and the Center for Biological Defense.

The research park opened in February 2002 with three startup companies. The expanded complex is expected to bring scientists and entrepreneurs together to turn research into commercial enterprises, said USF President Judy Genshaft.

Ground will be broken on the $40 million project by the end of the year. It is the first phase of USF’s plan to develop its research park into a hub for biotechnology and life sciences research and entrepreneurship in Tampa Bay.

The research park should dovetail with the high-tech strengths of the Tampa Bay region, Genshaft said.

Ken Krizner is managing editor of Expansion Management magazine. He can be reached at kkrizner@penton.com. (tagline)Ken Krizner is managing editor of Expansion Management magazine. He can be reached at kkrizner@penton.com.

Some of the university-based research parks around the country

Arizona State University Research Park, Tempe, Ariz.

Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, Shreveport, La.

Cummings Research Park, Huntsville, Ala.

Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, Aurora, Colo.

Idealliance, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Innovation Park at Penn State University University Park, Pa.

Miami Valley Research Park, Dayton, Ohio

Mississippi Research & Technology Park, Starkville, Miss.

Missouri Research Park, St. Charles, Mo.

Purdue Research Park, West Lafayette, Ind.

Research Triangle Park, Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Rochester Technology Park, Rochester, N.Y.

Texas Research Park Foundation, San Antonio, Texas

University of Arizona Science & Technology Park Tucson, Ariz.

University of Kentucky-Coldstream Research Campus, Lexington, Ky.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County Research Park Corp., Baltimore, Md.

University of Nebraska Technology Park, Lincoln, Neb.

University of South Florida Research Park, Tampa, Fla.

University Research Park, Madison, Wis.

Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, Richmond, Va.