Private backers chip in $3 million for Life Sciences Discovery Fund

The state's Life Sciences Discovery Fund, an effort to channel more state resources toward research that could bolster the biotech industry, today announced a $3 million donation from five of the biggest names in corporate and private giving locally.

Amgen, Microsoft, Regence BlueShield, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation chipped in on the first significant gift the fund has announced since it was created by the Legislature in 2005.

The fund will hand out $350 million in tobacco settlement money over 10 years beginning in 2008.

Today's gift gives the fund a head start. The $3 million will back an initial grant program for projects aimed at improving health care quality and efficiency through technology.

The fund is holding public information sessions around the state this month in advance of its first request for proposals related to the initial grant.

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