Ryan McBride on Mass. Gov. Patrick's grand biotech plan
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick took center stage when the life sciences industry’s largest convention landed in Boston last year, but next week he must compete for the spotlight on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s turf in San Diego.
The Bay State and California are among dozens of governments that aim to attract new multimillion-dollar corporate expansions and high-paying jobs at the annual BIO International Convention. Patrick stole the show last year with his unveiling of a $1 billion life sciences stimulus package, and his office has been working for much of the year since then to ensure that his bold proposal passed in the State Legislature.
Now many in the industry are watching to see how Patrick and the Bay State deliver on their plan to invest that $1 billion in life sciences over the next 10 years — and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention provides the biggest stage in the life sciences world for the state to begin to execute its plan to grow its life sciences sector.
“I think it’s important that the state shows that it’s made tangible progress, especially given the attention that the governor’s announcement was paid last year when the convention was in Boston,” said Dan Quinn, senior vice president of Feinstein Kean HealthCare, a Cambridge consulting and public relations firm for life sciences companies.
Both the Massachusetts House and Senate were expected this week to pass a final version of the legislation for the stimulus plan, and Patrick was expected to sign it into law by the weekend, giving the governor some last-minute political firepower to take on Schwarzenegger and other government chiefs competing to grow their life sciences sectors at BIO.
Big audience, competition
More than 2,200 companies and 36 foreign governments will have exhibits at the BIO conference from June 17 to June 20, according to organizers, which underscores both the wide audience available to Bay State officials and the fierce competition they face on the economic development front.
BIO is an ideal venue to celebrate the passage of the state’s stimulus bill, said John Heffernan, vice president of policy and public affairs for the industry group Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. “Some completed version (of the legislation) completes the circle that started last year at BIO,” he said.
Heffernan estimated that about 40 companies and nonprofit groups would have booths in the Massachusetts pavilion at the conference.
Unassigned funds, earmarks
To be clear, not all of the $1 billion is intended to lure life sciences firms to Massachusetts. A reported $299.5 million of the package is earmarked to be invested in research facilities for state universities and to fund capital projects for companies already doing business in Massachusetts.
Still, there remains a reported $200.5 million in unassigned funds for capital investments, $250 million in tax incentives for life sciences concerns that create jobs in the state, and $250 million in research grants. State officials have said they expect the stimulus package to create 250,000 new jobs in the state by 2015.
Beyond providing a tool for company recruitment at BIO, the state incentives are also intended to flow to the small startups that make up the majority of companies in the life sciences industry in the state.
“I think one of the things they’ve done in the legislation is, they’ve accounted for companies at different stages of development,” said David Lucchino, CEO of Semprus BioSciences, a small developer of antibacterial coatings in Cambridge. Semprus, formerly SteriCoat, spun out of a lab at MIT last year and has 10 employees. “Obviously, we’re at (an early) stage of development and have different needs,” he said.
Larger life science firms like those featured at BIO, however, have been linked to the stimulus package over the past year.
Executives of Organogenesis Inc., a Canton maker of products used in regenerative medicine, cited the state’s life sciences package as a major factor in their decision to expand the 325-person firm’s headquarters in the state rather than in Rhode Island, for example. In return, Massachusetts has committed $12.9 million in incentives to the company.
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