Florida may have prematurely demanded a $77.6 million refund from one of the taxpayer-backed biotech operations that a decade ago was supposed to help spark a research revolution in the state, an attorney for the struggling institute argued in a recently released letter.
On Friday, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, noting Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has “assumed the posture it will leave Florida,” declared the institute in default on parts of a 2006 deal and said it should return half the $155.3 million awarded a decade ago, along with equipment purchased with tax dollars.
