Group Speaks Up For Second-Stage Biotechs
Advocates call for funding to scale the 'cash flow valley of death'
Backing Incubators
Dr. Fatemeh Mojtabai, the founder of MA Innosystem (and the originator of the group's name, which refers to the "innovation-based economic ecosystem"), said one of the group's goals is to preserve some specific line-items to benefit small companies that were included in the House bill but not in the Senate version. In particular, the Senate eliminated a $30 million investment for five regional "technology and innovation centers" that would act as incubators for small companies, much like Worcester's Gateway Park.
Mojtabai also has more ambitious changes in mind. Before the Senate passed its version of the bill, four MA Innosystem leaders sent a letter to state Sen. Jack Hart, the Senate chair of the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee, asking for, among other things, an increase in the money set aside for grants to small businesses, from $40 million to $100 million or more and a specific - and quick - timeline for the distribution of grant money. Mojtabai said her group is still seeking those changes as a conference committee in the state legislature develops a final bill for the governor to sign.
What the final bill will look like is not yet clear. One conference committee member, Sen. Stephen Brewer of Barre, said its discussions are confidential.
"We are taking the concerns of all people who weigh in on these versions of the bill," he said. "That's all part of the give and take from here until we put something on the governor's desk."
Brewer did say that the committee wants to move quickly. The national Biotechnology Industry Organization will hold a major conference in San Diego in June, and the senator said lawmakers want to have the law in place by then to help the state promote itself to the industry.
Garden State Blues
The four MA Innosystem leaders who signed the letter to Hart, and who have been responsible for most of the organization's lobbying efforts so far, are Mojtabai; Jerrold M. Shapiro, president and CEO of Fem-Medical LLC in Framingham; Martin Sklar, the president of Automated Medical Instruments Inc. in Needham, and Edward E. Berger, a principal in Larchmont Strategic Advisors in Chestnut Hill.
Mojtabai is the most vocal of the group, and she is different from the three others in another crucial respect: her company is based not in Massachusetts but in New Jersey. Mojtabai said she wants to move Novatarg Pharmaceuticals Inc. to the state because of the business advantages of working close to other life science companies, but she can't afford to do it without some financial support.
She said Novatarg, like many second-stage life science companies is facing what's known as the "cash flow valley of death": When companies are just starting up and creating new technologies, public funders are willing to give them grants, but that money dries up as they refine their processes and work to make them commercially viable. And that second stage can be long and expensive, especially for life science companies.
Mojtabai and many others in the industry hope that the life sciences bill will go a long way toward helping deal with that problem. But no matter what the final version of the bill ends up looking like, she said MA Innosystem will have plenty of work to do advocating for small life sciences companies in the years ahead.
"We do need some representation to show that, first of all, we exist," she said. "In the long term we really need to be able to identify our needs, address our needs and achieve our goals. Obviously, it's much more helpful to come as a group than as individuals here and there."
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