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Missouri’s Carnahan Named BIO Governor of the Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 22, 2000) --TheBiotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has named Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan Governor of the Year for his support of the industry’s growth and companies’ research and development efforts, which create products that improve health care, agriculture, industrial manufacturing and environmental management.

The award will be presented during a ceremony tomorrow,June 23, at Washington University's Genome Sequencing Center in St. Louis. The university is one of the key genetic research institutes involved in mapping the human genome.

BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum said, This award iswell-deserved. Gov. Carnahan has demonstrated an unswerving commitment to improving the climate for technology-based industries in Missouri. His support of executive and legislative initiatives that have increased research and development opportunities is greatly appreciated. Financing incentives are critically important, especially for early-stage companies.

Patrick Kelly, BIO’s director of state government relations,said, Missouri has stepped up efforts to secure a position as a center of excellence for the biotechnology industry. Gov. Carnahan’s authorization of $25 million in tax credits for the development of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a testament to his leadership and commitment to this technology. This center promises to become a world renown research facility.

Gov. Carnahan has mobilized the Missouri Economic Development Department to pursue incentives aimed at growing the bioscience industry in the state, Kelly added. The state’s top-tier colleges and universities will also figure prominently in this effort by providing an educated workforce and a having a readily accessible market in which to commercialize technologies developed in university laboratories.

BIO represents more than 900 biotechnology companies,academic institutions and biotechnology centers in 49 states and 26 nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotech products.

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