Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
Courtesy photo
UMass Boston launches Entrepreneurship Center
MHT's Julie Donnelly: Colleges see uptick in interdisciplinary programs
MHT's Julie Donnelly: Biotechs lag in social media use
Over the past decade, Massachusetts lost one in three of its manufacturing jobs, according to analysts.
Seahorse Bioscience Inc. pitched in to keep at least a few such jobs from disappearing.
The biotechnology services company, based in Billerica, is on the cutting edge of accelerating drug development. The company has made two acquisitions in the past four years, and they have both been in Massachusetts. Founded in 2001, the company has grown from around 60 employees two years ago to about 100 now, through hiring and acquisitions.
Seahorse’s acquisition of Chicopee-based Innovative Microplate Inc. five years ago has led to continued hiring through the recession and an expansion of the manufacturing facility there, to 25,000 square feet from 14,000 square feet.
Seahorse’s lead product is a bench-top scientific instrument that measures the energy production activity of cells. The tools cost, on average, $100,000 and are used to diagnose bioenergetic defects in cells, or to test potential drugs to see if they produce any bioenergetic toxicity. CEO Jay Teach says that the aging process tends to tamp down energy production in cells, and that many diseases associated with aging, such as neurological ailments, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer may be treated by better understanding and fighting the energy production slowdown.
“It takes an enormous amount of energy, for instance, to fire neurons in the brain, and when that slows down, there can be neurological disease,” Teach said. Seahorse has a mix of customers, including pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline plc, Eli Lilly and Co., Pfizer Inc. and Merck and Co. Inc. In addition, the instruments can be found at a majority of the top medical schools in the country, Teach said.
Despite the recession, the company has grown and has raised about $35 million in venture capital since its founding in 2001, including $5 million brought in earlier this year. Investors include Flagship Ventures, Oxford Bioscience Partners and Life Science Partners.
The steep growth in revenue followed the decision to “put the guts of the instrument into the plastic kit,” which prompted the Chicopee acquisition. “There really is a very strong expertise in precision engineering and injection molding in the western part of the state,” Teach said.
Teach said that Seahorse, at first, considered expanding out-of-state, but the proximity was appealing. He and other executives can easily travel between the two sites, which are about 100 miles apart.
Prior to the acquisition, Seahorse had assembled a group of advisors from the top pharmaceutical companies and they had two simple requests: Make the instrument, called the Extracellular Flux Analyzer or XF, smaller, and make it so customers don’t have to clean it. It’s not just about saving time but about potentially avoiding contamination. Genzyme Corp.’s continuing manufacturing woes, one year after discovering viral contamination at its plant in Allston, provide a stark example of the lost time and revenue that can follow such an episode.
Even though there is that pool of manufacturing talent in the western part of the state, Teach said he does sometimes struggle to fill management posts. He said he has a handful of jobs to fill now, in the $50,000 to $80,000 range, for roles like design engineer and manufacturing manager.
The company has recently begun a collaboration with the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, with a budget of $4 million in 2009 and a staff of 50, including scientists, graduate students and technicians. The institute is seeking to become the go-to place for encouraging biotech companies to locate or expand in western Massachusetts.
The collaboration with Seahorse enables scientists at PVLSI to use the company’s instruments to potentially discover other uses for it. If it leads to a new application for the machine, Seahorse may in-license that technology.
PVSLI executive director Paul Friedmann said of the ongoing challenge of Massachusetts companies considering moves to locations such as North and South Carolina, “We need to do a better job at selling this area as a low cost, high value region for biomanufacturing.”
Seahorse’s local expansion has been so successful, the company made a second in-state acquisition, of Woburn-based BioProcessors Corp., in March 2009. The Woburn company creates an instrument that helps biologic makers decide how to design their manufacturing process to maximize cell yield.
Add your comment, and share it via Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo and more. Edit your Disqus profile settings.
RSS Feeds
