Bioscience company commits to Cape, still seeks a partner

~ State incentives were the key to drawing Chlorogen Inc., but those details aren't yet being released.

A bioscience firm has committed to establishing facilities in Cape Girardeau -- now it just needs to strike a strategic deal with a biopharmaceutical firm.

St. Louis-based Chlorogen Inc. has been exploring options of building a manufacturing and research facility in Southeast Missouri State University's new research and technology park since last summer. The company uses genetically modified strains of tobacco to grow proteins for making pharmaceuticals used to treat ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

Chlorogen chief executive David Duncan said the company is now completely committed to Cape Girardeau, but just needs a way to make sure the operation is commercially viable before investors will commit.

"We're at a point now where we have to hit some critical milestones," said Duncan. "We have to secure a partnership with a bio-pharmaceutical partner. Once we have one then we'd be in a better position to get our board favorably disposed to building the facility."

Local farmers would be the primary growers of the tobacco plants, but Duncan said in August there was no danger of cross-pollination from the genetically modified crops.

Duncan said equipping the facility alone requires a large expense -- anywhere from $3 to 4 million for equipment and personnel just to get the operation off the ground. Duncan said Southeast Missouri State University has already agreed to building a facility to lease to Chlorogen.

Last year Chlorogen explored offers from several states, said Duncan, but Missouri offered a package of incentives that won out. He declined to be more specific on the incentives.

Duncan said he's optimistic that a deal could be reached on bringing Chlorogen to Cape Girardeau within 12 to 18 months. Several bio-pharmaceutical firms have expressed interest in Chlorogen technology, he said.

Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET, said there's still a lot of work to do locally to get infrastructure in place as part of the project. One of those infrastructure priorities will be the construction of a new Interstate 55 interchange near the site of the research and technology park. Federal funds became available for that project last year.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182