Cities and states jockeying for position in the race for biotech dollars and talent have their sights set on a whale that comes along once in a generation. When President Joe Biden announced last year that the federal government is launching a new outfit, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, dedicated to funding moonshot tech research, he kicked off a new, high-stakes battle among municipalities that are eager to land the headquarters of a federal agency dedicated to advancing and funding cutting-edge research. Meant to “drive breakthroughs in biomedicine to prevent, detect and treat diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes,” Biden said at a recent March event, ARPA-H is part of an overall increase in health and biotech funding championed by the new administration. When up and running, the new agency will dole out billions of dollars in research grants, adding to the sizable pool of existing National Institutes of Health grants while supporting more experimental, cutting-edge treatments and therapies. 
Top biotech clusters have thrown their hat in the ring to host ARPA-H, including Boston, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Maryland and North Carolina, according to recent reporting from Stat News and The Scientist. Mary Beth Thomas, a senior vice president at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, told Bisnow…  Read the full story here. | 
