Metro Orlando's biotechnology and life science sector encompasses hundreds of organizations dedicated to research and development that is integral to improving quality of life. Whether their work is in extracting plant nutrients to produce vital vaccines or creating data management systems for medical records, these businesses contribute to the continued growth and success of the industry. Listed below are brief overviews of some of Metro Orlando's leading biotechnology and life science companies:

Amaro & Associates, Inc.
Amaro & Associates, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical technology consulting firm that delivers quality assurance testing and validation, quality IT business processes and performance testing to ensure pharmaceutical manufacturing systems function properly through the development of its Total Validation Management (TVM) system. In a period of stronger pushes toward FDA regulation, this system consolidates multiple processes into one efficient program. The client is then able to create testable requirements, test plans, test scenarios and summary documents, which are not only less confusing but are accurate and complete.

Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, Inc.
Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, Inc. is a nationwide, privately-held "Clinical Specialty Pharmacy" licensed and permitted to operate in all 50 states. Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, Inc. specializes in providing physicians, patients, health plans and other healthcare providers with injectable and oral brand name products as well as compounded pharmaceutical products.

Cardiovascular Sciences, Inc.
Cardiovascular Sciences, Inc. is a biotech company focused on the development of innovative medical products.  The company is currently developing proprietary technology for the prevention of post-surgical adhesions as well as patented methods for preventing blood clot formations on medical devices and for treating patients suffering from cardiac trauma, such as ischemic reperfusion injury, heart failure, and bypass surgery.

Cognoscenti Health Institute
Cognoscenti Health Institute is an evidenced-based clinical laboratory based in the Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to the University of Central Florida in East Orlando. Cognoscenti delivers on-site state-of-art diagnostic testing and professional interpretive services to community physicians, hospitals and the general population and offers faster turn-around time and consultation support via advanced information technology. Cognoscenti’s 6,500 square-foot facility houses a high-tech clinical laboratory offering over 900 tests of interest and value to referring physicians and patients, more than 250 of which are performed on-site.

CORD:USE
Founded by obstetricians who make blood stem cell products more readily available, CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank’s program at Orlando Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies is utilizing umbilical cord blood – the most readily available source of stem cells – to help save lives. CORD:USE collaborates with hospitals nationwide to provide mothers with the opportunity to donate their babies’ umbilical cord. This partnership satisfies their mission to create large, ethnically diverse inventories of cord blood stem cell units, which continues to improve the odds of survival for patients in need of a stem cell transplant.

CuraScript, Inc.
CuraScript, Inc., the nation's largest privately-held specialty biotech pharmacy services company and a subsidiary of Express Scripts, combines high-tech distribution capabilities and clinical services to provide specialty inject-able medications to individuals requiring complex, high-cost treatment. Recognized as an industry leader in managing care for patients with chronic illnesses, CuraScript employs over 2,500 team members and their state-of-the-art dispensing facility is headquartered in Orlando. Office and clinic-based physicians are the primary customers of their distribution services which provide integrated delivery solutions to safely and consistently distribute pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. CuraScript has a network of satellite distribution pharmacies, including a hemophilia center of excellence, and several infusion centers located across the United States.

Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center (EMLRC)
Orlando-based Emergency Medicine Learning Resource Center (EMLRC) provides pre-hospital emergency care providers with the medical training necessary for disaster situations. The company's Mobile Emergency Simulation Lab (SimLab) is a motor coach designed to resemble a simulated ER and ambulance, allowing first responders to train in a realistic environment.  The simulation lab is on the road five days a week visiting hospitals, EMS agencies and fire departments. EMLRC is the first mobile simulation lab in the country.  The center also conducts research in the areas of disaster management, emergency medicine and public health.

Florida’s Blood Centers
Florida's Blood Centers (FBC), a not-for-profit organization, is the sole supplier of blood and blood products to 70 healthcare facilities in a 21-county area. With its 875 employees they are able to provide more than 360,000 units of blood and blood products each year donated entirely by volunteers. FBC remains the largest blood bank in Florida and the fourth largest independent blood bank in the nation. In addition to supplying blood and blood products, FBC offers HLA tissue matching, bone-marrow donor registration and a full-service tissue and eye bank.

Florida Hospital
Florida Hospital is an acute-care health care system that is part of the comprehensive network of hospitals of the Adventist Health System. It is the largest private, not-for-profit hospital and is the oldest and largest health care system in Central Florida. Florida Hospital offers a wide range of health services for the entire family, including cardiology, neurology, diabetes, and women’s medicine.

• As the first of its kind in Central Florida, the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement is a premier center for hands-on surgical instruction. The prime objective is to develop and disseminate cutting edge surgical knowledge and techniques to the global surgical community through state-of-the-art teleconferencing technology. Participants perform minimally invasive surgical procedures at one of nine state-of-the-art endoscopically equipped stations.

• The Global Robotics Institute is a world class multi-specialty surgical program comprised of leading urologic, gynecologic, colorectal, and cardiac physicians dedicated to providing superior patient outcomes through the use of robot assisted laparoscopic technology. The Global Robotic Institute is a destination program for both patients and physicians. Patients come from all over the world to their main facility Florida Hospital Orlando and their resort style campus Florida Hospital Celebration Health for the latest surgical treatment options. Nearly 7,000 international and domestic physicians receive training on the latest surgical treatments at Florida Hospital's Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement each year.

• Scheduled to open in 2012, the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes Biorepository, a partnership between Florida Hospital and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona, will focus on changing the way diabetes and obesity research is conducted and make it possible to deliver results faster for patients.  The facility will serve as the gateway to Florida Hospital’s upcoming “Health Village” at their main campus.

GENICON
GENICON is recognized as an emerging leader in the design, production, and distribution of patented surgical instrumentation focused exclusively on laparoscopic surgery, a form of minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 1998 and based in Orlando, Florida, GENICON is a privately held firm in which several of its shareholders are surgeons who utilize their products. GENICON remains today as it originated: a company driven to meet the needs of modern-day healthcare through the harmonization of clinical needs and the economic demands of a global healthcare system.

Informed Care
Informed Care provides disease management and telemedicine services to address the complications and costs of chronic illnesses and public health conditions. The delivery of services falls into two categories: the provision of case management services and the provision of software, networks and infrastructure to provide remote consultation and care to patients through caregiving providers or networks.

INTER BIO-LAB, Inc.
INTER BIO-LAB, Inc. is an established international provider of superior reconditioned clinical diagnostic analyzers. The company strives to deliver high quality instruments, meet its customers’ delivery schedules and keep up with technological advances. IBL’s extensive partnerships allow the company to provide superior chemistry, hematology, coagulation, blood, gas and electrolyte analyzers at an excellent value. The company recently opened a new 36,500-square-foot facility in the heart of Metro Orlando. The facility features a high tech department with new technology and storage capabilities.

Nemours Children's Hospital
Nemours Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Health Campus is also under construction in Orlando’s fast-emerging ‘medical city’ at Lake Nona. The 620,000-square-foot facility will include 95 beds, an 18-bay emergency department, a neonatal intensive care unit and departments specializing in complex childhood diseases. Scheduled to open in 2012, the hospital will be the central hub of a 60-acre pediatric health campus featuring a children’s clinic, emergency department, diagnostic and ambulatory programs, education centers and research programs.  The Nemours Children’s Hospital is expected to pump $400 million into the Central Florida economy and eventually create 2,600 new jobs

Orlando Health
Orlando Health is one of Florida's most comprehensive private, not-for-profit healthcare networks. A community-based and supported hospital organization of facilities, they are dedicated to serving the needs of our region. Comprised of Orlando Regional Medical Center, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, Cancer Research Institute, Orlando Health Foundation, plus more.

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando
M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando uses basic and translational research to understand how tumors grow and spread, creating more effective treatments for cancer patients. More recently, the Cancer Center has partnered with the University of Central Florida to advance cancer research in Orlando. UCF’s new Health Sciences campus at Lake Nona allows for a 30,000-square-foot space for the Cancer Center in the new Burnett Biomedical Sciences Building scheduled for completion this year. Part of the Orlando Regional Healthcare System, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is the first and largest affiliate of the world-renowned University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. M.D. Anderson works to create superior programs in multidisciplinary patient care, prevention, research and professional and community education. They have achieved significant improvement in the quality of cancer care in Central Florida, providing care to cancer patients from diagnosis through all phases of treatment and follow up.

Orlando VA Medical Center
Scheduled to open in 2012 in Orlando’s ‘medical city’ at Lake Nona, the Orlando VA Medical Center will be a 134-bed hospital that will bring the latest research and state-of-the-art medicine to 400,000 Central Florida veterans. This facility, the first VA hospital built in the United States since 1995, will pioneer cutting-edge technology in prosthetic limbs and bionic technologies for arms, legs, and eyes. The Center will also specialize in brain injury treatment, post traumatic stress disorder research and treatments in suicide prevention.

In addition, the Center will be the nationwide training and planning home for the VA’s new medical simulation system – Simulated Learning Enhancement and Advanced Research Network (SimLEARN). A 35,000-square-foot facility, to be called the SimLEARN National Center, will bring physicians and other medical professionals from throughout the country to train in the latest medical simulation technology, including surgical robotics.

Ortheon Medical
Headquartered in Metro Orlando, Ortheon is a development stage company currently working on commercializing its proprietary Teno Fix technology. Teno Fix uses an innovative soft-tissue anchor system and works to change the way tendons are repaired forever. Under a research agreement formed with the University of Central Florida (UCF), university biomedical engineering researchers will analyze new uses throughout the body for this revolutionary tendon repair system. UCF researchers will perform biomechanical testing, create prototypes and provide lab assistance and analysis relating to Ortheon's Teno Fix™ technology.

Rippe Health Evaluation
The Rippe Health Evaluation is the only executive health program in the United States directed by a board-certified cardiologist.  Because of both the quality and totality of its assessment program, the Rippe Health Evaluation has rightly been called "the finest high-touch, high-tech executive health assessment in the world."  The Rippe Health Evaluation has been developed by Dr. James Rippe, internationally recognized for his fitness and lifestyle research and medicine, to meet a number of health and wellness needs.  It incorporates the advantages of the finest diagnostic equipment and systems, as well as state-of-the-art medical technologies.

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona
Sanford-Burnham is an early partner and anchor in the new medical city at Lake Nona in Orlando. In April 2009, teams of scientists who study diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease moved into a state-of-the-art 175,000 square-foot institute. The Institute at Lake Nona is committed to conducting fundamental and translational research and is supported by almost $40 million of grant funding. Within 10 years Burnham at Lake Nona will employ over 300 scientists and support personnel.  The facility is one of the largest LEED certified scientific buildings in Central Florida. Burnham’s presence in Orlando is expected to be a catalyst for future growth of biotech and life sciences in metro Orlando and a key contributor to diversification of the economy.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
SAIC life sciences division supports government and commercial customers in all phases of drug development – discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development and operations and compliance.  Programs supported range in scope from basic and translational research to advanced development, operational excellence, IT systems integration and regulatory approval of drug, biological and device products.

Triad Isotopes
Triad Isotopes, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, works to advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease through the use of radiopharmaceuticals and is the fastest growing radiopharmaceutical company in the nation. The company has brought together 21 of the best independent facilities serving the nuclear medicine industry. The pharmacies, doctors and hospitals under the Triad Isotopes ownership umbrella are given the funding, corporate resources, and quality assurance standards vital to delivering growth, superior service and innovations in the nuclear medicine industry.

UroSolutions, Inc.
UroSolutions, Inc. is a medical technology company that manufactures and distributes urological medical devices. The company’s revolutionary technologies include a patented hydrodynamically bladder management system, as well as other products promoting the health, comfort, convenience and safety of urinary care patients.

Valensa International (formerly U.S. Nutraceuticals LLC)
Valensa International is a science-based developer and manufacturer of high-quality ingredients for supplemental human nutrition. Today, the company is the leading vertically integrated global supplier of saw palmetto and astaxanthin products. Additionally, Valensa manufactures a line of high value botanical extracts including cranberry seed, ginger, rosemary, oregano, valerian and other botanical ingredients.

VaxDesign Coporation
VaxDesign Corporation is an emerging biotechnology company that challenges disease differently; going beyond pathogen-oriented to immune-oriented science for creating and testing immunotherapies, they combine immunology with engineering to find practical solutions to complex biological problems. VaxDesign develops ex vivo models of human immunity that are functionally equivalent to the human system, and will predict human responses to pharmaceuticals and vaccines much better than existing approaches. Their models will provide a rapid and cost-effective solution and have the potential to save companies years of development time and millions of dollars of development costs. The company intends to become a leader in the field of immunotherapy and is dedicated to developing and commercializing their products and processes that harness the power of the immune system to treat a wide variety of diseases.

Virtual Reality Medical Center
Virtual Reality Medical Center is accelerating Orlando’s cutting-edge development work with computer-generated simulations. By implementing virtual reality, the company is able to treat mental-health disorders and train health-care providers, establishing veracity in the field of simulation psychotherapy. Components of the program feature sensational characteristics, such as visual, audio, motion and scent, and researchers can examine real-time results of the subjects’ physical, emotional and psychological reactions.