20% Growth in the Number of Life Science Companies and 34% Growth in the Number of Life Science Employees in Jerusalem Relative to 2006.(Company overview)

Speaking today in a reception organized by Yissum Research Development Company Ltd., the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as part of the ILSI Biomed 2009 conference, Mr. Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem, said that the Jerusalem Municipality, in collaboration with the Jerusalem Development Authority, intends to raise and invest approximately 100 million NIS over the next 5 years to promote the health and life sciences business cluster in the capital city. The budget will be allocated to bolstering infrastructure necessary for biomedical research and development; training skilled personnel for the life science industry; promoting and populating the first Israeli biomedical industry park situated in the campus of Hadassah medical center and the Hebrew University School of Medicine; and for establishing an investment fund that will focus on life science companies based in Jerusalem (see also BioJerusalem).

Mayor Nir Barkat: "I am personally committed to the field of biomed and the health and life sciences business cluster as a core competitive advantage that we must exploit in Jerusalem. Among other things, I intend to award financial incentives in order to encourage international companies to put down roots in Jerusalem, as well as to define Jerusalem as a Special Economic Zone with tax benefits for high-tech and biotech companies. These steps are intended to turn Jerusalem, the health and life sciences capital of the State of Israel, to a renowned partner in the international arena."

The Mayor explained that he has long considered the health and life sciences business cluster as a field of utmost importance for the economic growth of the city and for the creation of new jobs, and that he fully intends to continue and even intensify the growth of the capital's biomedical industry that we are witnessing in the past few years.

Shirley Kutner, Ph.D., Executive Director of BioJerusalem, the Jerusalem Development Authority added, "Despite the economic situation, we have seen a 20% growth in the number of companies and a 34% growth in the number of biomed employees in town relative to 2006. With Teva Pharmaceutical Industries as the anchor of the pharma industry in Jerusalem, additional bio-pharma companies, such as Protalix and Omrix, recently purchased by Johnson & Johnson, join the 110 biomed companies that are currently based in Jerusalem and that employ over 3,250 people. We project that the growth trend will significantly increase in the near future. The investment on behalf of biomed companies is expected to top $350 million over the next five years. This growth will be accompanied by an addition of some 2,000 employees with academic degrees in biology, biotechnology, chemistry, pharmacy, and engineering."

The life science industry in the capital is based on impressive academic infrastructure and R&D that have already yielded two innovative drugs, Doxil and Exelon, which originated from the Hebrew University and are sold at over a billion dollars per year. Jerusalem is Israel's ...