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$26.6 Million in Tax Credits and Grants Awarded to 77 Bioscience Companies in Florida

"Our company learned about the opportunity through BioFlorida's training and education programs, which helped us submit successful applications," said Stephanie Warrington, BioFlorida vice chair, and vice president of corporate affairs & business development at Xhale, Inc., a Gainesville developer of medical devices and breath-based technologies. "Grants such as these are critical to the development of our product line, the growth of our company, and the advancement of many other bioscience companies in the state."

Xhale was awarded two grants totaling $422,771.25 to conduct research into a novel ethanol monitor, and for a breath-based glucose monitor.

The federal credits or grants are designed for projects that show significant potential to produce new cost-saving therapies, create U.S. jobs, increase the country's competitiveness or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years. The credit or grant can cover up to 50 percent of the cost of biomedical research expenses that qualify. The maximum credit is $5 million per firm, and $1 billion for the program nationwide. Only firms with 250 or fewer employees were eligible to apply for credits or grants to put toward 2009 and 2010 investments.

"One of the elements Florida needs to grow its bioscience businesses is early-stage capital and grants to take innovative healthcare solutions to the next level of development," said Thomas McLain, chief executive officer of the St. Petersburg-based Claro Scientific, LLC, and chairman of BioFlorida's federal policy committee. "BioFlorida's legislative committee went to Washington to meet with our representatives in Congress to ask them to support this initiative. Now at a challenging time for our state's economy, Florida will benefit from increased investments in biotechnology research and jobs because of these credits."

The U.S. Treasury Department reported it received more than 5,600 applications requesting more than $10 billion.

"This is a great way to help young innovative companies through these tough economic times, and we will continue to support efforts to expand and extend the therapeutic tax credit program in Congress," said Russell Allen, president and chief executive officer of BioFlorida. "We continue to advocate for state-sponsored support for emerging bioscience companies to continue the momentum of the federal program, and to help create the high value jobs in our industry that will strengthen Florida's economy."

Florida companies receiving awards and the amounts are:

About BioFlorida

BioFlorida is the voice of Florida's bioscience industry association, and represents more than 200 member companies and research organizations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device fields. BioFlorida members are involved in biomedical research and development, medical device manufacturing, clinics and hospitals, academia, government and non-profit organizations, and industry services/products. BioFlorida's leadership and programs positively influence the growth of the industry through networking and initiatives related to capital formation, advocacy, workforce development, education and commercialization of research. This year, the BioFlorida Institute was established to provide support for K-12 science education, workforce development programs as well as professional development. For more information, visit www.bioflorida.com.

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