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$200M endowment campaign launches to support commercialization of health care innovations in Arizona
Jan 11, 2018, 2:01pm MST Updated: Jan 11, 2018, 4:04pm MST
 
More funding is expected for research and innovation in Arizona.

The Arizona Bioindustry Association has teamed up with two foundations to raise a $200 million endowment to support the commercialization of health care innovations developed by Arizona-based researchers and entrepreneurs.

AzBio is working with the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation Inc. and New York-based Healthcare Impact Foundation.

“Arizona has made great progress since the formation of our Bioscience Cluster in 1997 and the launch of the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap in 2002,” said Joan Koerber-Walker, president & CEO of AZBio and chairman of OTEF. “By conservative estimates, over $18 billion has been invested in the bioscience and healthcare sector by public and private sources over the last two decades. We have built up our research enterprise, are launching exciting companies, and are educating the next generation of bioscience leaders. Yet, one major hurdle still must be crossed. Lack of access to early stage life science capital has plagued Arizona for two decades. It’s time to stop talking about the problem and solve it.”  

Plans call for raising the $200 million by the end of 2018.

The Arizona component of the Healthcare Impact Foundation, also called AZ-HCIF, is designed to provide sustainable funding to support the progression of Arizona-based life science discoveries along a path from development to delivery, Koerber-Walker said. This is the first of a portfolio of endowments from across the U.S. and around the world that will be grown and managed by the Healthcare Impact Foundation, a 501C3 public charity established in 2017.

This is the second collaboration between OTEF and AzBio. The first was the creation of D3BIo, a division of OTEF, which launched in 2014 to support life science innovation and life science innovators.

Koerber-Walker first mentioned the concept of the $200 million endowment at AzBio's Trailblazer's luncheon in December.
 
Angela Gonzales
Senior Reporter
Phoenix Business Journal