KU Medical Center could get additional research space

A nonprofit foundation is offering to provide the University of Kansas Medical Center drug development and testing space if Johnson County voters approve a sales tax for research this fall.

The Hall Family Foundation is buying an office complex in Fairway and said it is willing to give one of the two buildings to the medical center.

"We have tremendous capability in this community in the drug development field," said Bill Hall, president of the foundation started by the founder of Hallmark Cards. "What has been done by KU over the years is extraordinary. The ability to combine clinical trials with drug development capabilities should give us a significant leg up."

County officials are being asked to place a measure on the November ballot asking voters to approve a 1/8th-cent sales tax to pay for the Johnson County Education Research Triangle initiative. If approved, the measure is expected to generate $15 million a year, which would be split between the medical center, the University of Kansas Edwards Campus and Kansas State University.

The schools plan to use the money to build new facilities in the area, develop cancer treatments and increase the number of degree programs for math and science.

Organizers have said they expect the triangle initiative to create more than $1 billion in economic development for the area over 20 years.

Kansas State is opening a new food security and research institute in Olathe on property also shared with the Kansas Bioscience Authority and private-sector companies, such as Fort Dodge Animal Health.

The Edwards Campus plans to create a Business, Engineering & Technology Center focused on offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in molecular bioscience, engineering and other advanced areas.

The medical center's project would cost $15 million in construction and equipment, which the Hall foundation would provide. Noting that the Edwards Campus and Kansas State already have property allocated for their projects, Hall said it was important to do the same for the medical center.

"It says to the voters that this is a real proposal," he said.

David Adkins, the medical center's vice chancellor for external affairs, said the 70,000-square-foot building would help as the center works to become one of the nation's leading centers for cancer treatment and research.

The medical center already has opened the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center, a 200,000-square-foot facility that had helped attract top scientists.

Adkins said the Fairway building would fill a big need for clinical trials.

"At this point there is not the kind of space on our campus that would be easily and conveniently accessible to patients seeking clinical trials," he said.

Those trials require intensive record keeping and supervision by physicians, nurses and others, said Roy Jensen, director of the University of Kansas Cancer Center. He said it would be cheaper and more efficient to put all of those efforts in one place.

Making the process cheaper and easier would also attract the attention of pharmaceutical companies and other drug developers looking for a place to do clinical testing.

He said such a clinical trials facility would significantly aid the medical center's efforts to be named one of the country's top programs by the National Cancer Institute.

"If we have this ballot initiative passed and we have a building that is being renovated or is close to being opened, clearly we are demonstrating a visionary approach and that we are putting the plan into action," Jensen said. "That would be a powerful statement."

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com