The state’s one step closer to spending 33 million tax dollars to help build a lab and other facilities to try to keep a northwest Iowa biotech firm from leaving the state. The proposal won the endorsement of a House sub-committee this morning and will be debated by the House Economic Growth Committee tomorrow. TransOva Genetics is the name of the company, and it’s based in Sioux Center today. The company is developing a process whereby the milk and blood of specially-bred cattle would yield proteins and other products that’re used by pharmaceutical companies to make drugs, dietary supplements and human blood substitutes. Representative Clarence Hoffman, a republican from Charter Oak, says once a purification lab and support facilities are built, TransOva will hire about 200 people and their average wage will be between 35- and 45-thousand dollars a year. He says it’s important that they invest money properly and get a good return on their investment. But Iowa’s in a race with other states, like South Dakota, which are vying for TransOva. Jim Schuiterman , the company’s C-E-O, won’t rule out moving to another state. Schuiterman says the company’s always felt there’s a “regional opportunity” for their vision, which eventually would see farmers raising genetically-altered cattle for the company. He says Iowa has been great place to build a business, but he says they intend to build their business in Iowa, but he says it’s also a regional opertunity in Northwest Iowa.Hoffman, who is chairman of the House Economic Growth Committee, is expressing confidence that TransOva will choose to stay. Hoffman says TransOva officials like the state’s incentive package and he’s confident TransOva’s “address will not change.”
