BioStorage Technologies Picks Indianapolis For High-Tech Specimen Management Facility.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 2003

Lt. Gov. Kernan and Mayor Peterson Hail an Addition

To Central Indiana's Growing Life Sciences Sector

A group of life sciences leaders today announced that they will establish one of the world's most sophisticated biological specimen storage, management and logistics facilities in Indianapolis.

BioStorage Technologies, LLC, is expected to open its new headquarters later this year in a facility located in the Park Fletcher industrial park near Indianapolis International Airport. The company will lease a building and invest $3.5 million during the next two years into its facility.

BioStorage Technologies expects to hire approximately 100 local staff during its first two years, with an average salary of $37,600, more than 20 percent higher than Indiana's mean annual wage of $31,070 estimated for 2001 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan said, "Life science is one of the core industries that Indiana is focusing on through the 'Energize Indiana' economic development package of programs. Advanced life sciences companies like BioStorage Technologies are a good match for Indiana and could be an indication of future success stories to come".

Mayor Bart Peterson said, "The addition of BioStorage Technologies is yet another indication of the viability of the Central Indiana Life Sciences Initiative. The life sciences continue to be a driver of our regional economy, attracting good-paying jobs and investment to our community."

Dr. F. John Mills, the chief executive officer of the company, also said BioStorage Technologies is positioned to play a critical role in serving the needs of the life sciences industry. "BioStorage Technologies will develop and provide the world's best and safest management, logistics and storage services of biological specimens and data," he said. "We will be an integral part of the infrastructure that will serve the life sciences."

"Every day, organizations such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research facilities, hospitals and other healthcare facilities collect biological specimens and related information. These specimens and data are collected and used for research purposes, clinical trials, diagnostic testing and the documenting of cutting-edge medical advances," Mills said.

"BioStorage Technologies will use its heartland location to serve producers of specimens by providing safe and secure facilities to centralize, consolidate, organize, manage, store and retrieve large numbers of specimens and their associated data," he said.

Oscar Moralez, the president and founder of the company, said, "The market BioStorage Technologies will serve is large and growing rapidly." A federal advisory panel estimated in 1999 that the United States had more than 282 million biological specimens stored in laboratories, military facilities, forensic DNA banks, tissue repositories, health-care facilities and other sites. The federal panel estimated that the number of specimens was growing at the rate of more than 20 million cases per year, putting a conservative estimate of the number of biological specimens stored in the United States this year at 362 million.

"By managing the time-consuming and detail-dependent processes of specimen storage, BioStorage Technologies will free life sciences organizations to focus on their core functions and achieve their scientific goals," Moralez said.

BioStorage Technologies, which will operate some of the world's most sophisticated specimen freezers manufactured by Japan's SANYO Scientific, expects to store several hundred thousand specimens during its first year of business. Temperatures in the storage facilities will range from ambient room temperature to -150 degrees Celsius (-232 degrees Fahrenheit).

BioStorage Technologies has signed an agreement with SANYO Scientific to collaborate in the field of low-temperature biological specimen storage research.

Jeb Conrad, executive director of Indianapolis economic development for The Indy Partnership, a regional economic development organization, said, "BioStorage Technologies is another piece of the life sciences infrastructure that is so critical to attracting and encouraging the kind of life sciences businesses that we want to see in Indianapolis. This company brings the city recognition nationally and internationally because of the unique services and expertise it provides."

BioStorage Technologies worked closely with the Indiana Department of Commerce and the City of Indianapolis to secure the project. Commerce is offering a host of economic development incentives including $28,500 from its Skills Enhancement Fund and $50,000 from its Technology Enhancement for Hoosiers Fund, also known as "TECH." In addition, the City of Indianapolis is offering the company a six-year tax abatement on real and personal property valued at more than $230,000.

"BioStorage Technologies is committed to support its local economy by purchasing local services wherever possible," said Moralez, the company president. "We are already using locally based businesses for legal counsel, human resources and payroll, financial consulting, software development, construction, advertising, marketing and public relations."