Investment aimed at biotech company

The Kansas Bioscience Authority is looking to invest $1.3 million in hopes of luring a biotechnology company to Manhattan.

On Thursday, the KBA investment committee recommended giving $300,000 to the Colorado-based company Megastarter. It also advised providing $1 million to Manhattan for a 4,900-square-foot facility in its wet-lab incubator park for the company to use.

Thursday’s funding recommendations will be passed on to the entire KBA board, which meets Nov. 9 in Lawrence.

Megastarter holds the technology rights for a microbial supplement that helps cattle make dietary transitions as they move to feedlots. The supplement is designed to counteract and prevent rumen acidosis, a destructive condition caused by the buildup of lactic acid, according to KBA spokesman Chad Bettes.

The technology, which was developed in South Africa, is still pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The company is looking for a location to produce and distribute the product, Bettes said. KBA’s funding would be part of a deal the state would offer the company in hopes of moving it to Kansas.

Over the next five years, the company would provide 13 jobs and partner with Kansas State University for additional research, Bettes said.

The investment committee also recommended giving $250,000 to KCBioMedix, a Shawnee-based company that develops medical products to solve feeding problems that arise with premature infants.

The money would match a $250,000 private investment. An additional $250,000 could come with another private investment. If approved by the board, the funding would be the third investment the KBA has made in the company since 2007. The other two contributions totaled $550,000.

Ventria Bioscience was also recommended for funding. The company, which has operations in Junction City, is looking for money to help research alternative products for cell cultures. The investment committee recommended a $145,000 investment in the project.