INDUSTRY REPORTS

University of Montana chemistry Professor Aaron Thomas continues to burnish his credentials as a national leader for helping diversify STEM fields. In his latest effort, Thomas helped UM earn a prestigious $2.5 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to help increase the percentage of Indigenous, Black and other underrepresented students of color entering STEM fields.

BIO and our state affiliate partners are pleased to share with you the BIO/CSBA 2022 TEConomy Report. This report, titled: “The U.S. Bioscience Industry: Fostering Innovation and Driving America’s Economy Forward” is a biennial report that gives extensive data on the U.S. bioscience industry, the country’s bioscience ecosystem and the sector’s growth on state and local levels. You can download the report and state-specific fact sheets here.

The Montana Innovation Partnership (MTIP) powered by MSU TechLink Center will utilize some of our 2022 FAST funds to provide financial assistance to Montana small businesses that are actively preparing SBIR/STTR proposals in the federal fiscal year 2022. The costs to apply for an SBIR/STTR grant or contract can be considerable. Financial assistance for early-stage companies increases their participation in the SBIR program and the quality of their proposals. MTIP will award six FAST Microgrants to eligible SBIR/STTR applicants of up to $2,000 per year. Prospective SBIR/STTR applicants may apply to MTIP to receive Microgrants to attend conferences, travel to speak with agencies or commercialization partners, to acquire consulting services from an approved service provider for assistance with preparation of Phase I or Phase II proposals, to develop supporting project data, and to undertake other activities directly related to their SBIR/STTR proposal. Applicants are required to complete the MTIP Request for Services and the 2022 FAST Microgrant Application which provides essential information, including proof of eligibility, the significance of the proposed innovation, commercial potential, proposed topic/agency, team and available resources, a description of how the Microgrant funds will be used, and a detailed outline of your Phase I or Phase II project and timeline. The application process is intended to help yield good proposals and will permit sound award decisions by the MTIP program director and team. The 2022 FAST Microgrant program is limited to applicants who have received fewer than five Phase I awards in the last 10 years.

Frederic Scheer has been an entrepreneur on several continents for the past 40 years. Being an entrepreneur for Scheer started in France where he was born and educated. Scheer got two doctorates from the University of Paris (Assas and Pantheon) and an MBA from Institut d ‘Etudes Politiques de Paris, he started in real estate and very quickly became an investment banker.

MTIP has again been named Montana’s FAST partner as part of the cooperative agreement with the SBA, Montana State University, and the Montana Department of Commerce.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ plan to build a new biomanufacturing center just north of the Ravalli County Fairgrounds in Hamilton is hoped to bring more high-tech bioscience jobs to the Bitterroot Valley.

The University of Montana recently secured $5.1 million in federal grants from the Health Resource and Service Administration, leading to the formation of a new UM Office of Health Research & Partnership. The office will use the HRSA funding for programs to bolster the health care workforce and increase access to quality health care in rural and underserved parts of Montana.

According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults and currently afflicts more than six million Americans, most of them age 65 and older.

According to Mental Health America, the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness, over 5.4 million people took their online mental health screen in 2021.

GSK’s anti-TIM-3 antibody is moving into a pivotal trial after hitting the mark in the midphase portion of the study, cementing the Big Pharma’s status as a front-runner in a thinning field featuring Novartis. Read more here:

By drawing on both publicly available data as well as survey responses from Montana bioscience companies, this report, underwritten by the Montana BioScience Alliance, presents a comprehensive picture of the industry’s activities and how those activities support the economy as a whole.

Now in its sixth edition, this report analyzes legislative and regulatory initiatives at the state and regional levels for economic development in the biosciences in 2021. Montana’s 4th “F” Fund is cited.

This report shows how biopharmaceutical research companies continue to be vitally important to the economy and patient health in Montana. Since 2004, biopharmaceutical research companies have conducted or are conducting more than 1,200 clinical trials of new medicines in Montana in collaboration with clinical research centers, hospitals and local research institutions. These clinical trials have investigated or are investigating some of Montana’s biggest health care challenges, including asthma, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal diseases.

Antibacterial drug discovery and development during the 20th century yielded one of the greatest armaments available to physicians, with more than 90% of all antibacterial drugs discovered during this period. Since the introduction of numerous antibiotic classes during the 1940s, deaths from bacterial infections have been reduced significantly. However, this next century is already presenting challenges that may render these older antibiotics obsolete. This BIO Industry Analysis report investigates recent investment into antibacterial innovation and the current clinical pipeline that will help bridge the gaps in the antibacterial armamentarium.

This study aimed to measure clinical development success rates, contributing factors to those outcomes, and timelines of clinical trials. With the goal of providing current benchmarking metrics for drug development, this study covers the most recent decade of individual drug program phase transitions from January 1, 2011, to November 30, 2020.

The three reports below capture federal funding that supports researchers and trainees who conduct biological and biomedical research in Montana.

NSF has made a significant investment in Montana by supporting research, STEM education, small business startups, and our academic institutions. Learn the story in this report.

Trends are identified every two years by the Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes. This year the report focuses on workforce impacts from the disruption and turmoil of 2020. It also provides data supporting the potential for high-paying bioscience and technology jobs in Montana.

Montana’s bioscience industry is modest in size but has grown in recent years. You’ll find the most recent statistics in the Montana section of this report. Click on the map of Montana and see how we compare to the U.S. in key metrics. Read more about the report here.

Provides key statistics that define biosciences in Montana including a number of jobs, payroll, earnings, and investments.

This report from the Montana Department of Labor shows wage information for specific job titles.

This program, which is funded through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund, identifies gaps in health care jobs and strategies for filling those gaps.

This report updates research from 2002-03 that identified, analyzed and mapped Montana’s bioscience enterprises enhancing our understanding of the most pressing needs of the sector and increasing our ability to support its growth.

This is the ground-breaking report submitted to the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity that documented the impact of the life sciences cluster in the state.