Home | TrendTracker | PowerBlog Reviews | The Experts | Newsletter
ABOUT
SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS brings you daily updates on trends that influence the global small business market.
Anita Campbell, Editor
Past life: CEO, corporate executive, tech entrepreneur, retailer, general counsel, marketer, HR ... (more)
email me
free business magazines
FREE BUSINESS MAGAZINES
Trade publications FREE to qualified professionals. No hidden offers and no purchase necessary.
On Wall Street
The Deal
Computing Canada
CIO
Employee Benefit
Oracle Magazine
100+ additional titles. Click to browse.
ARCHIVES & SEARCH
Previous Small Business Trends articles can be found at the links below:
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
Or, use the search box below to find a
specific post:


NEWSLETTER
Sign up for our FREE Small Business Trends newsletter. (View Current)

We publish regularly and promise we won't share your email address with anyone. (Privacy Policy)
SMALL BIZ INFO & RESOURCES
BLOGS TO READ DAILY*
* Don’t have time to read several dozen blogs a day? Pick two or three. Your brain will thank you for it.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
BLOG DIRECTORIES
THE BUZZ

SPECIAL RESOURCES
Small Business Trends Radio
Tuesdays, 1:00 PM Eastern U.S. time
on Voice America network
Click to listen

November 1st: Torsten Jacobi, CEO of Creative Weblogging, joins host Anita Campbell. Sponsored by Six Disciplines. Show details.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Biotech Startups Not Getting SBIR Grants
Biotech industry organizations are lobbying the U.S. Small Business Administration to loosen up its interpretation of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant rules.

The rules say grants can only be awarded to businesses that are 51 percent or more owned by one individual or individuals who are American citizens. This precludes many biotech firms whose majority owners are venture capital firms from receiving SBIR grants.

The biotech organizations claim the SBA recently became stricter in its interpretation. The SBA says the rules are 21 years old and nothing has changed. However, SBA officials admit that in the past some grants were improperly awarded due to "misunderstanding" of the rules.

Read more about biotech's flap over SBIR grants here and here.


Some of the most promising biotech firms, especially biopharmaceutical firms developing new drugs, are backed by venture capital. That's because the cost of completing product development and clinical trials is expensive. Institutional venture funding is often times the only way these companies can get off the ground and make it through to successful FDA approval. But if the SBA sticks to its strict interpretation of the rules, there won't be any SBIR grants for startups whose ownership is primarily in the hands of venture capital interests. This may limit the benefits of the SBIR grant program for biotechs and particularly biopharms.
More news... more trends... more insight...

Home | Privacy | Terms | SmallBizTrends
(c) Copyright 2003 - 2005, Small Business Trends LLC. All rights reserved.