The biomedical industry in Texas

I've been working in Texas as a postdoctoral research scientist in biology for six years now, so I've gotten to know the local lay of the land pretty well as far as academic research goes. But commercial activity in biomedical research in terms of pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices? I didn't have much of a clue at all. A bit of Googling took me to http://www.texaswideopenforbusiness.com, a website put together by the Texas Economic Development Division within the Office of the Governor of Texas. They've put together reports detailing the status within Texas of a variety of industries, including Biotechnology and Life Sciences. The 2012 Texas Biotechnology Industry Report is particularly useful; it's probably the single best overview of the Texas biomed scene out there. Also useful is their directory of Texas-based biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Over the upcoming weeks, I hope to do some analysis of the information contained in these documents.

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Medical Device Companies in Texas - Breakdown by City

In a previous post I described the geographic distribution of pharmaceutical companies within Texas. I went back to the same directory of Texas-based pharmaceutical and medical device companies [see disclaimer below, *] and, this time, took a look at the geographic distribution of companies working in medical devices. The list [see technical note below, **] contains a total of 171 medical device companies - almost twice the number of pharmaceutical companies listed. Here is how they are geographically distributed: The number in each wedge = the number of medical device companies in that city. "Other" consists of Bryan/College Station (4 companies), Athens (3), Corpus Christi (2), El Paso (2), Amarillo (1), Beaumont/Port Arthur (1), Longview (1), Lubbock (1), Midland (1), Mineral Wells (1), and Waco (1). As with pharmaceutical companies...

Developing Software: What Should Academic Researchers Keep in Mind? (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this essay, I discussed three learning points I'd gained from my encounters with faculty-developed software in my work as a technology transfer officer at an academic medical research institution. Those points were as follows: Patents aren't a necessary prerequisite for commercializing software Be deliberate in your use of third-party code If you are going to release your source code publicly, consider doing it under a restrictive open source license When I finished writing it, I knew I had more to say on the topic. You can read Part 1 here . Below is my continuation. 4 - Figuring out the ‘thing’ that’s going to be licensed An important part of handing off a software-based technology from university to private industry is to first figure out exactly what is being handed off. This can be tricky! I’ve discovered that software, as a commercial asset, can take many forms. The licensing professional can bring a lot of clarity to the negotiations by making sure both ...

Texas-Based Pharmaceutical Companies - Breakdown by City

[Monday, 18 March 2013: I just noticed that the directory I discuss in this post contains the following disclaimer : "The company listings in this directory are provided as a broad, representative sample of Texas companies in three major areas of the biotechnology industry. This directory is not a comprehensive source of all biotechnology or health-related companies in the state. Due to space limitations, the Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism division is unable to include all relevant firms in this document." Thus, whatever interpretations I make based on it should be considered a rough estimation at best. -IH] I've written a synopsis of the 2012 Texas Biotechnology Industry Report (see previous post), but I'm going to hold off on posting it here until it first comes out on the next issue of the Postdoc Informer, the UT Southwestern postdoctoral community's bimonthly newsletter. In the meant...

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