Buzz

The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 has been introduced in Congress to extend grants and tax credits under the Therapeutic Discovery Project, reports MICROHSCOPE.

The 2010 Therapeutic Discovery Project provided $1 billion in support to nearly 3,000 companies across the country, including 62 Ohio biomedical firms that collectively received $16 million in grants and tax credits.

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Officials with the Ohio Film Office say four films have committed to shoot in the state and, in turn, receive more than $2.3 million in tax credits, reports the Cincinnati Business Courier.

The films are Seven Below Zero, Old Fashioned, Over the Wall and Liberal Arts, which will be shot partially in Columbus. Since the state's Motion Picture Tax Credit program began in 2009 under former Gov. Ted Strickland, Ohio has awarded more than $29 million in incentives to productions that have employed more than 9,000 Ohioans, the state said.

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Research and equipment at Youngstown State University to recycle trash -- that is, plastic throwaways such as empty milk containers and water bottles -- into treasure, reports the Youngstown Business Journal.

Polyflow LLC, a startup company that operates a small pilot processor in Akron, is looking to use its patented process to convert household plastic and polymer items into transportation fuel and new types of plastics on a large scale.

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Michigan and Ohio voters in two new Mellman Group polls for Ceres say they'd like their vehicles to give them 60 mpg as early as 2025, reports Torque News.

They also want major inroads made to dramatically cut carbon-dioxide pollution from cars and trucks.

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The Regional Growth Partnership, northwest Ohio's lead economic development agency, is working to open two offices in China, reports the Toledo Blade.

CEO Dean Monske announced the international expansion during the agency's annual meeting Monday at the Dana Conference Center in South Toledo. The offices are to be in Shenzhen, about 30 miles north of Hong Kong, and in Beijing.

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General Motors will spend $204 million to upgrade its Toledo transmission plant, reports The New York Times.

The company says its plans to invest $2 billion to upgrade 17 plants in eight states and create or save more than 4,000 jobs.

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Sears Holdings Corp. has joined a growing list of companies threatening to move their headquarters out of Illinois, setting off a flurry of activity from government officials eager to keep thousands of corporate jobs in the state, reports The Chicago Tribune.

The retail giant, which has called the Chicago area home since 1887, is in early talks with officials from several states, including New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia, according to a source familiar with the talks. The chief motivation for the move is to cut costs, the source said.

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New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Ohio was home to 88,569 of the 2.4 million veteran-owned businesses in the United States, reports the Dayton Business Journal.

The bureau says its survey -- which tracks veteran-owned businesses in 2007 -- is the first-ever detailed information for all veteran-owned U.S. businesses, including number of firms, sales and receipts, number of paid employees and annual payroll.

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Investments in medical research and science education are among the cures Ohio needs for its economic future. That was the message shared by state and national experts Monday during a Research!America research partners forum in Rootstown Township, reports the Akron Beacon Journal.

The national nonprofit group advocates for support for medical research.

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Ohio cities hoping to profit from natural gas drilling won't be able to cash in after all, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Monday that cities can't treat millions of gallons of salty wastewater from new natural gas wells in their sewage plants and dump it into streams. The agency says it is concerned that the wastewater, called brine, poses a pollution risk.

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There is little connection between a state's investment tax burdens and its economic performance, reports The Atlantic.

The publication reports on a new study that compares states' tax burdens with business competitiveness. The study finds that Maine imposes the smallest tax burden on new investment, followed by Oregon, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois, all with effective tax rates on new investment of five percent or less.

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Mason-based AssureRx has announced the largest commercial pilot program of its GeneSightRx test, which helps physicians select medications for individual patients with neuropsychiatric disorders by using a cheek swab to analyze genetic variants, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer.

AssureRx is doing the program with Medco Research Institute LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions Inc

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Akebia Therapeutics has closed a $22 million series B round of investment that will take the company through a pair of phase 2b trials of its oral anemia drug, reports MedCity News.

The funding is an important milestone for the Cincinnati-based pharmaceutical company as it pushes forward with development of AKB-6548, which is designed to promote levels of erythropoietin (EPO) for up to 12 hours in kidney disease patients. EPO is a hormone that promotes the growth of red blood cells in bone marrow.

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Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm continued a nationwide clean energy tour in Ohio last week, imploring an audience of academics, energy consultants and lobbyists to carry the Pew Clean Energy Program's bipartisan call to action to state and national leaders, reports the Associated Press.

During an April 27 keynote address to the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio, the former two-term governor delivered an impassioned plea for advocates not to miss a critical opportunity for setting national clean-energy policy goals. The Democrat is working with former U.S. Sen. John Warner of Virginia, a Republican, on the effort.

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Ohio University's medical school will use a $105 million gift to establish a new campus in Central Ohio with an eye toward boosting the number of primary care doctors in the state, reports MedCity News.

The gift, which university officials described as the largest ever for an Ohio institution of higher learning, comes from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations, a Columbus-based community health advocacy nonprofit.

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