More evidence that Minnesota has a lot of work to do in developing a viable biotech industry.From 2004 to 2009, local human biotech firms attracted only $1 million in venture capital compared to $1.2 billion for medical devices, according to a report by Battelle Memorial Institute and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.$1 million over five years! [...]

The Biotechnology Industry Organization international convention returns to Chicago this week — a nod to the importance of pharmaceutical and therapeutic companies in Midwestern states like Ohio.Drugmaking has history in Ohio.From Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: PG) in Cincinnati (sold last year to Irish drug company Warner Chilcott), to generic drugmakers Ben Venue Laboratories (Bedford) [...]

University/industry research and development partnerships added $187 billion to the U.S. economy from 1996 to 2007, according to a Biotechnology Industry Organization study of the affects of the Bayh-Dole Act.

So is the nation’s biotechnology industry booming or a bust? It all depends on where you are.

Even the “recession-proof” health care and biotechnology industries are feeling the economic pain of the worst contraction since The Big One. Will consumers keep the health care industry growing?