Montgomery County officials have high hopes that pouring money into biotechnology startups and forging a stronger partnership with Johns Hopkins University will have a big payoff.
“We’re going to cure cancer here in Montgomery County,” said Council President Nancy Floreen, D-at large. “What a wonderful future that is about to unfold.”
The county has a strong biotech pedigree: It’s home to a small army of federal scientists and a some high-profile federal agencies — including the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. The human genome was sequenced in the county, and Interstate 270 has been dubbed “DNA Alley.”
But county officials are worried that the county’s biotech industry is lagging.
Officials said the key to turning the county’s biotech fortunes around is finding ways to turn discoveries made in labs into cash — by way of private companies that develop successful drugs, employ high-paying workers, and expand the county’s tax base.
To reach that goal, the county is considering a biotech tax credit for startups and is trying to establish stronger links with Johns Hopkins University, the country’s largest research university.
“As a practical matter we had minimal relations with Hopkins in the past,” said Steve Silverman, the county’s economic development director.
County Executive Ike Leggett signed a memorandum of understanding with Johns Hopkins last week emphasizing a desire for a long-lasting relationship between the county and the university.
The school wants to expand its campus in Shady Grove into a “Science City” in west Gaithersburg that school and county officials hope will become a biotech hub on par with powerhouses in California and Massachusetts.
Hopkins scored a big win last week when the National Cancer Institute announced it would relocate to the Shady Grove campus from the NIH campus in Bethesda.
But there are still plenty of hurdles to cross. The “Science City” plans have drawn flak from some elected leaders, civic activists and environmentalists, who say the already congested area can’t handled the projected influx of 40,000 more workers.
And Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Rockville/Gaithersburg, said he doesn’t think the county can afford a biotech tax credit. The county is facing a budget gap of more than $760 million and the tax credit could cost more than $2 million a year.
