Ohio companies shooting for the stars

Had a chance to talk with Governor Taft yesterday after he appeared and touted Ohio as a biomed hotspot at the Mid-America Venture Forum. He indicated that some of the nation's very large health care funds from outside the state have opened chapters in Ohio including Draper, Charter Life Sciences, Oakwood Medical.

He commented on several highly successful bioscience firms that started and are staying in Ohio. AxioMed Spine Corp. is making next generation artificial disks for degenerative lower back disease. "They got their earliest funding from Third Frontier funds," he said. "Early Stage Partners, a Cleveland-based seed capital firm, got them off the ground in their partnerhips with the Cleveland Clinic. And now they're pulling in more traditional venture funding from west coast--doing clinical trials in Europe now, and planning them next year in U.S. This kind of support they've received has resulted in getting them very close to getting a viable biomed product to market that's manufactured in Ohio."

Two other companies the Governor visited were Lifeline Screening and MemberHealth. Lifeline Screening makes mobile testing units in vans that can test for osteoporosis and other conditions and can help people who otherwise wouldn’t get screened. Founded in 1992 and currently in 48 states and Canada, it employes 200. They also give ultrasound screenings to detect signs of stroke and heart disease--an innovative and cost-effective approach to preventive medicine. "It's a very successful Northeast Ohio startup," said the Governor, "and it's just continuing to grow."

MemberHealth facilitates financial and prescription drug benefit programs between pharmacies and customers. It works closely with its clients and drug manufacturers to create consumer-driven formularies. National pharmacy benefit management--it's the newest $1 billion Ohio company and has 500 employees. They successfully competed to be chosen to administer Medicare Part D on behalf of about a million Medicare beneficiaries. Part of that success was because they partnered with a State of Ohio program-—the Golden Buckeye discount card. They run that program, which has resulted in savings about $17M savings in drug benefits.

Ohio's giving North Carolina and Minnesota a good run for the money.

Talk about your charitable activities

This fascinating Forbes account tells how billionaire Sir Richard Branson has given $3 billion to former President Bill Clinton's global initiative for rewnewable energy--all the profits from his airline and train business.

That's certainly an astoundingly large donation. But you don't have to give on a scale like that to write about how your company participates in charitable activities, or even about various things you do to help your employees. Your corporate blog readers want to know about how your company "is" in the world. Talking about the good things you do is one of many ways to let them know.

Hard science to prove power of mind-body medicine

This is so exciting I had to take a break and post it. Not very long ago, research led scientists to define what they call the inflammatory reflex which connects the immune system directly with the nervous system.

And in 2002 they discovered that the brain controls the immune system via the vagus nerve (which runs throughout the body's organs). And now, ta-dah: They now have a way to test scientifically the effects that such ancient Indo-Tibetan practices as yoga and meditation have on the activity of the vagus nerve. Read this very clear explanation here. Oh, I love being alive in these times.

UK building a genetic health database

Couldn't resist writing about this exciting news. A UK company called BioBank is about to begin collecting blood from a massive sampling (half a million) of British citizens to create a database of comprehensive blood and health information. What a resource for researchers! Read more here.