Biotech firm wins second U.S. award

Advertiser Staff

'Aiea-based biotechnology research firm Hawaii Biotech Inc. has become the state's first two-time recipient of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Tibbetts Award honoring achievements by small businesses in innovation and research.

Hawaii Biotech Inc. received its first Tibbetts Award in 1998, and was one of 66 recipients nationwide to receive an award this year.

Named for Roland Tibbetts, who is credited with the creation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the award is presented annually to small business firms, projects, organizations and individuals across the United States.

Through the program to date, Hawaii Biotech has received a total of 65 awards for research valued at a combined total of more than $14 million. Through the state's High Technology Development Corp. Hawaii SBIR matching grant program, the company has received more than $1 million.

The company creates, develops and markets human pharmaceutical and diagnostic products and is working on developing a vaccine for dengue fever, one of the world's most problematic tropical diseases.

Using a gene-combining technique, the company has produced a vaccine that has succeeded through several stages of a live monkey trial against dengue, a disease that afflicts between 50 million and 100 million people each year.

"The SBIR grant program has played an integral part in our success and continued growth," said David Watumull, Hawaii Biotech chief executive.