Cleveland attracting big biotech investments

Cleveland has been the receptor of significant investments in the biotech recently, according to a recent report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. A Sunday article from the newspaper detailed a successful biomedical company operated in Ohio’s largest city, a state that the report notes has the largest amount of biotech deals in the U.S. Measurements from the Midwest Healthcare Growth Capital Report show that Cleveland alone brought in $218 million in biotech investments in 2017. Ohio as a whole has brought in 133 investment deals for a whopping $503 million in the past year. “There are a number of advantages here,” Abeona CEO Dr. Carsten Thiel told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. “Most importantly, we were able to attract talented and competent staff for our company.” The biotech company that identifies rare diseases in children and looks to find the cure for each one has offices in Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor and has grown significantly since it began five years ago. Now with 50 employees on staff, the company just opened a large manufacturing facility in Cleveland’s Midtown in May that will ultimately afford the company a chance to operate independently of powerful third parties. Company heads have noted that the talent of the worker in Cleveland is especially apt for the biomedical field. Cleveland Clinic Innovations has helped create 80 companies since in the industry in the past two decades. And for biotech startups, the Cleveland Clinic Ventures program helps recognize early-stage companies and assist them with investments and funding.