Could you briefly introduce the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and explain its role as a catalyst for the region’s life sciences sector?

The funding initiative began more than 10 years ago and was the product of recognition by a number of  university presidents, life science CEO’s and other civic leaders in Massachusetts that we have an ecosystem here that was good but had the capability of being great. A study with PricewaterhouseCoopers identified certain infrastructure opportunities that the state could contribute towards to accelerate and deepen partnerships within the life sciences ecosystem.

With this driving hope and unique potential as a foundation, The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has spent a billion dollars to ensure the best possible environment for the life sciences industry.

How has the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center distributed the US$1 billion state funding with which it was charged?

The first category was up to a half a billion dollars in capital infrastructure, everything from research facilities to high-end equipment. In many cases, the equipment that we placed in high schools and colleges throughout the state ensures that the resources are in place to keep the pipeline of talent for our industry well-trained and robust. Among the successful infrastructure investments we made was a very concerted effort in investing in wet lab incubators, such as US$10 million in LabCentral.

The second category was US$250 million available for tax incentives. 10 different incentives are available to help small and medium-sized companies scale up and grow. These incentives are also available to help attract companies outside of Massachusetts to relocate here, and have played a part in attracting leading global life sciences companies to the state. The final category set aside US$250 million towards an investment fund that we use both to help pre-seed stage and seed stage companies grow and develop in Massachusetts. These funds also contribute to our one-of-a-kind paid internship program for high school and college students interested in the life science industry. We financially support college internships for around 500 to 525 students a year. All of this is designed to help accelerate the rate at which students gain real world experience for their life sciences careers, and to ensure they have the experience and knowledge to secure those industry jobs upon graduation.

What sets Massachusetts apart as a hub for life sciences?

Two things have made Massachusetts as vital and vibrant as it is now within the study of life sciences, the first being collaboration. This encompasses the ability for companies to come here and work with not only higher education, but with the research institutions themselves; the opportunity to work with world renowned academic medical centers like Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; on top of that, the ability to work in partnership with real estate developers, lawyers, and accountants each of whom have deep expertise in the life sciences and are necessary to building an environment that commercializes technology.

The second factor is that we are a very balanced ecosystem, where we are not only a biopharma town but we are also a leading cluster in medical device, diagnostics, and digital health sectors. No other region has strength in all these areas. In the same 10 to 15 square miles, 16 of the top 20 leading biopharma companies, the top 10 leading medical device manufacturers, and the top diagnostics manufacturers can all be found. This is truly quite rare. On top of this we now have all of these companies starting to work with each other which will be very important going forward.

Massachusetts is the second-largest recipient of NIH funding within the United States. Taking into account the high volume of companies in the region, how does this translate into availability of funding? 

An interesting dynamic is taking place: on a per capita basis, we lead the United States in the amount of venture capital being invested into early stage companies. Last year it was US$3 billion. However, unlike in years past, those venture capital dollars are going in larger tranches to a smaller number of companies. The ecosystem has managed to maintain equilibrium because the large pharma and medical device companies have their own investment funds, which amounts to about a billion dollars going into early stage companies. This deployment of investment funds in young companies is not done in any other ecosystem.

Equally importantly, funding dollars are not in excess, which keeps up the standard and competition. Each company still has to produce great science in order to compete. Massachusetts is particularly efficient with its money. A company can complete an IPO in Massachusetts 2.5 times faster than any other state in the country with the exception of California, which sits at the same ratio. This speed is a sign of efficiency and proof that we are investing in great companies.

What are the main objectives for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center in the near future and longer term?

For the near future, we are currently in dialogue to secure more funding as we are publicly funded. Part of this process is to take our story directly to the taxpayers and engage our elected officials and communicate our impact with the first round of funding. We are very confident in that communication and the results from that initial round. We are hopeful that these conversations will culminate with a bill getting signed by our governor around the second quarter of 2018.

For the long term, we want to make sure that Massachusetts is viewed as a complete turnkey platform for research, development, translational science, commercialization and production. Continued investment is essential so it remains clear there is no better place for life sciences to grow than Massachusetts. We also want to create more opportunities for experimentation in the areas of convergence. Our target is to ensure that this environment is a breeding ground for engineering, data sciences and chemistry experiments.