Recently, Governor Charlie Baker signed ‘An Act providing continued investment in the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth’ to invest up to $623 million in bond authorization and tax credits over five years in education, research and development, and workforce training.
This legislation reinforces the State’s commitment to leadership in the life sciences sector. The funding will continue to be managed by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which is co-chaired by Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan and Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash.
The five-year, $473 million bond authorization in the proposal provides capital funding that will enable the state to strengthen the ecosystem through collaborations that maximize third-party investments and sharpen the Commonwealth’s competitive edge.
The funding will continue to be managed by the MLSC with a focus on regional investments that spur workforce and economic development and enrich learning and experiential opportunities for young people in Massachusetts. Since its inception, $350 million in public investments have supported R&D infrastructure and facilities that are available for partnership with industry. For every public dollar invested in these facilities, the life sciences industry has invested $1.67 alongside. This infrastructure creates space for new partnerships, seeds startups, and supports new translational research capacities.
While the Commonwealth does its part, companies like Cambridge based Biogen, for example, as seeing breakthroughs, in this case in Alzheimer’s disease. Biogen just saw a gain of $12 billion in market value on Friday after announcing promising results from a trial of one of its experimental Alzheimer’s disease drugs, marking a dose of good news in the daunting field.
Biogen and its partner, Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co., announced late Thursday that patients who received the drug saw a reduction in amyloid — a protein whose buildup in the brain has been linked to cognitive decline — after 18 months of treatment, compared to those on a placebo.
The trial also represents a rare success in Alzheimer’s drug research. The field has been marked by a series of high-profile failures in late-stage trials, with one large drug maker after another coming up short in recent years.
“The reason Massachusetts is the best place in the world for life sciences is because government is a true partner.” said MassBio President and CEO Robert K. Coughlin. “We are committed to working the life sciences initiative keeps Massachusetts on top, benefits workers at all levels, and brings new opportunities across the state.”
The tax incentive program provides a cost-effective way of attracting new and relocating companies to the Commonwealth while also ensuring that the state retains current commercial activity and captures investments from future growth. “This bill ensures continued growth in our economy and advances biomedical research while affirming Massachusetts strong commitment to life sciences. Importantly, it continues funding for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center which is critical to our work at Dana-Farber. Working together, we are truly pushing the pace of progress in cancer science,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, president and chief executive officer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
“As a company that has grown up in Massachusetts’ world-class innovation ecosystem, Vertex is proof that meaningful investments in the future of our industry will result in life-changing medical advancements,” said Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Vertex.
