BASF, the German chemical giant, is moving the headquarters of its plant science division from Germany to Research Triangle Park.

The company already employs about 200 people in the park, where it is working to create genetically modified crops that will produce larger harvests or plants that will be better able to withstand drought, floods and rising ocean levels.

Adding the headquarters designation will mean transferring as many as 123 positions to the Triangle from sites in Europe.

Megan Lybrand, a BASF Plant Science spokeswoman, said the company does not yet know how many European employees will relocate.

“We’ll see what happens as far as colleagues choosing to join us,” she said, adding that the company expects to continue to expand its workforce.

The N.C. Biotechnology Center has awarded three, $30,000 loans to help small life-science companies get going.

The nonprofit, state-funded center provides low interest loans to promising companies. The goal is to provide early funding until companies can attract the attention of bigger investors.

The loans are part of the Biotech center's mission to bolster the industry and its role as a job-creation engine across the state.

The three companies each received the maximum $30,000 loan to pay for non-scientific business start-up activities.

The companies include (click "Read More"):

The N.C. Biotechnology Center has given a grant worth as much as $2.5 million for a new center designed to foster commercial development and jobs based on the state's ocean life.

The four-year grant will help get the Marine Biotechnology Center of Innovation off the ground. The money will be based on organizers meeting various milestones. The goal will be to have the center find other sources of funding within four years to become self-sustaining.

One of the first tasks will be to find a CEO to run the center. That executive will choose where to open the center, and begin hiring a small staff, said Biotech Center spokesman Jim Shamp.

The grant comes as the General Assembly recently cut the Biotech Center's state funding by 10 percent. The center, based in Research Triangle Park, is a nonprofit that depends on the state for the bulk of its annual budget.

Oxygen Biotherapeutics plans to raise $4.6 million from an undisclosed institutional investor.

The Morrisville company expects to use the proceeds to continue work on dermatology and cosmetics products. Oxygen is developing and marketing various products that are designed to repair damaged tissue by increasing the delivery of oxygen to the site.

The company's line of Dermacyte skin products is designed to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

U.S. biotechnology companies revenues grew 8 percent last year but the increased profitability was driven largely by cost cutting and reduced levels of research and development funding, according to a report released today by accounting firm Ernst & Young.

The annual report describes a biotech industry that is recovering from the economic downturn but also faces serious challenges going forward.

"While the biotech industry’s aggregate performance improved in 2010, there is now a widening gap between large, established companies and those at earlier stages for whom access to capital continues to be difficult,” said Glen Giovannetti, Ernst & Young’s global biotechnology leader, in a release summarizing the report's findings.
   
The performance of the biotech sector in North Carolina largely mirrored this trend.

The market cap of publicly traded biotechnology companies in the state increased 42 percent last year and revenues were up 12 percent, according to the E&Y report. R&D spending was flat, however, up just one percent.

The report concludes that biotech sector's performance over the next five years may be characterized by steady profits, but not the strong growth rate that it has experienced during earlier periods.

Maybe it has something to do with the time difference in Europe.

On Friday, Spain's Grifols issued a press release confirming that on Wednesday it completed its $4 billion acquisition of Talecris Biotherapeutics. Employees, Wall Street investors and just about anyone else who cared, of course, knew it was a done deal two days ago.

Next week, CEO Victor Grifols is scheduled to visit the Triangle to meet with his newest employees: Talecris' more than 2,000 local workers. They'll be eager to hear his plans to combine the companies. The acquisition is expected to spur job cuts, as Grifols consolidates operations to boost profits.

There's some consolation. Most Talecris employees received shares in the company's Sept. 2009 initial public offering, when the stock started trading at $19.

Spain's Grifols announced this morning that it has won U.S. antitrust approval for its $4 billion purchase of Talecris Biotherapeutics, after agreeing to sell some assets.

The takeover of Talecris, based in Research Triangle Park, is expected to close today. The deal was first announced a year ago.

Talecris employs more than 2,000 people in the Triangle, and Grifols is expected to cut costs as its integrates the two companies. Any job cuts will likely hit harder at Talecris' RTP headquarters, and not at its massive drug-manufacturing facility in Clayton.

Grifols and Talecris make medicine from blood plasma, used to treat a wide range of diseases, including hemophilia and various immune system deficiencies. Buying Talecris gives Grifols, which has a large share of the market in Europe, a stronger foothold in North America.

A California real-estate firm plans to build a $13.5 million agricultural technology research center near Research Triangle Park, designed to bolster the state's reputation as a hub in the industry.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities' 50,000-square-foot Alexandria Ag-Tech Center and greenhouse are scheduled to open for business next summer. They will help emerging ag-tech companies develop new products, such as drought-resistant crops or medications extracted from plant materials.

The incubator is expected to provide jobs to 30-40 scientists, but Alexandria officials did not announce tenants for their planned facility. The building will house an 18,000-square-foot greenhouse. 

Talecris Biotherapeutics' $4 billion takeover by Grifols SA of Spain has won tentative approval from U.S. antitrust regulators, after the companies agreed to sell some assets.

Company officials have been in negotiations for months with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which wants to ensure the deal doesn't lead to higher prices for specialized drugs made from blood plasma.

Under a consent agreement with the FTC announced this morning, the companies agreed to sell Talecris' plant in Melville, N.Y., a division that makes a plasma-derived drug to treat hemophilia and two plasma collection centers.

The deal, first announced in June, creates a new corporate parent for Talecris, North Carolina's largest biotechnology company. Based in Research Triangle Park, Talecris employs more than 2,200 people in the Triangle, mostly at a massive drug factory in Clayton.

Talecris Biotherapeutics, which is awaiting word from U.S. antitrust regulators on its $4 billion takeover by a Spanish company, reported stronger quarterly results.

Revenue, mostly sales of drugs made from blood plasma that treat autoimmune diseases and other ailments, rose to $406.7 million, up 7 percent from a year ago.

Net income excluding some charges was $58.5 million, up 29 percent.

Talecris is the Triangle's largest biotechnology company and employs more than 2,200 people locally, mostly at a Clayton drug factory and its Research Triangle Park headquarters.