Category: MLSC
Application period opens on June 21st
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Boston, MA – Governor Patrick, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, MassBio and MassMEDIC today urged qualifying companies to apply for the Therapeutic Discovery Tax Credit, a new federal program created under the Affordable Care Act to support biomedical research. Qualifying companies may apply to the new federal program starting on Monday, June 21, 2010 with applications due by July 21, 2010. Applicants will receive a determination no later than October 29, 2010. More information is available on the web site of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, www.masslifescience.com.
Center Awards $1.5 million to foster job growth and technology commercialization in the Massachusetts Life Sciences Supercluster
For Immediate Release: Date: May 28, 2010
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
“This is all about jobs. By helping life sciences companies grow, we create new opportunities for people to work,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “As we continue to strengthen our global leadership in the life sciences, this program will meet an important need and make Massachusetts an even more attractive place for life sciences companies to locate and grow.”
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Board of Directors today awarded $1.5 million in Small Business Matching Grants to three life sciences companies in Massachusetts. The companies receiving grants are Boston Biochem Inc. and Tetragenetics Inc., both of Cambridge and Thermedical Inc. of Somerville. Each company will receive $500,000 from the Center to match federal small business grant funding that the companies had previously been awarded. The grants represent the first round of awards issued under the Center’s Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) Program. The three companies that are receiving awards have committed to collectively creating 40 new jobs in the Commonwealth by the end of 2011, including six jobs to be relocated from New York.
The Center’s Small Business Matching Grant Program, launched in January 2010 as part of the state’s ten-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, will match federal small business grant funding for early-stage life sciences companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing in Massachusetts. Goals of the program include the creation of jobs in Massachusetts by the commercialization of products with high potential for market adoption and penetration.
Applications due by July 2nd
For immediate release: Date: May 3, 2010
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that applications are now being accepted for the 2010 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program. Applications can be submitted on-line via the Center’s web site, www.masslifesciences.com. The application period opens today, and all applications are due by noon on July 2, 2010.
Last year, in the program’s first year, the Center awarded $24.5 million in tax incentives to twenty-six life sciences companies. The companies that received tax incentive awards in 2009 committed to creating more than 800 new jobs in the Commonwealth this year.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative provides for nine different incentives, which address the significant capital expenditures associated with the life sciences R&D cycle and the high costs of translating research into commercially viable products. Eighty-five companies applied for tax incentives last year, the first year of the program.
To qualify, companies must receive certification from the Center and must demonstrate both the scientific and economic merit of their expansion plans. The primary goal of the program is to incentivize life sciences companies to create new long-term jobs in Massachusetts.
The Center’s Flagship Investment Program provides working capital to early-stage companies
For Immediate Release: Date: February 24, 2010
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
Waltham, MA – The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center today approved the launch of the 2010 Accelerator Loan Program, the second year of the Center’s flagship investment program that provides working capital to early-stage life sciences companies. The Center will begin accepting online applications on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 with an application deadline of Wednesday, March 24, 2010. A subsequent round will be conducted in the fall, with application dates to be announced. Applications will be accepted via the Center’s web site at www.masslifescience.com.
The Program has been capitalized with $5.5 million for 2010. This year’s program will offer loans of up to $750,000 per company, an increase from the 2009 maximum loan amount of $500,000. The Program seeks to “de-risk” start-up companies that are in need of financing to serve as flexible working capital or for the purchase of capital assets to help selected companies achieve product development milestones and obtain private investment. In addition, the loan terms will now include a warrant which will give the Center the right to purchase equity in the company at a specific price within a certain time frame.
Center Awards $25 million to foster job growth in the
Massachusetts Life Sciences Supercluster
For Immediate Release:
Date: December 23, 2009
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
Waltham, MA – Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that the Center’s Board of Directors has awarded $25 million in Tax Incentives to twenty-eight life sciences companies. The companies receiving tax incentive awards have committed to creating a combined 918 new jobs in the Commonwealth over the coming year.
Three additional awards brings second round to nearly $2 million
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has completed its second round of New Investigator Matching Grants by awarding $600,000 to three Harvard-affiliated researchers. These grants supplement the $1,380,256 awarded last month to seven other young scientists. The Center’s New Investigator Grants advance the careers of New Investigators who are working on innovative life sciences research at Massachusetts research institutions.
One of the greatest challenges facing the new biotech economy is advancing on the foundation of a solid workforce. One of the strongest supporting factors for developing and enhancing an industrial cluster is the steady production and recruitment of skilled applicants for employment. This issue has become increasingly apparent in today’s economic climate where unemployment is reaching an unprecedented high and many potential employers are unable to fill key positions. Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) has proposed a solution to this dilemma. The Internship Challenge will place 100 local college students with a company or research lab in their field of interest. The intern gets a mentor, and a glimpse of the life of a researcher and the host institution gets not just an open position filled for the summer but the chance to link with a professional for a lifetime. The launch of the first ever Internship Challenge will be held Monday June 1, at 10:00 a.m. located at Nine Cambridge Center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA at The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
When starting a company there are a number of factors to consider including:
• Access to capital.
• Local incentives for industry.
• A community with a trained workforce.
• Space that will meet your company’s requirements.
• A product with a competitive advantage.
The availability of a skilled workforce is right below getting the funds to build your business.
The MLSC’s Internship Challenge is a workforce development program enhancing the ability of job market talent in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is at the top of life science clusters in the world with Institutions such as MIT, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute, and large life science firms such as Genzyme, InVivo Therapuetics, New England Peptides, and New England Biolabs. With so many highpoints in the local economy located in the spectrum of the life sciences, it is critical that Massachusetts ensures a steady output of trained, skilled professionals ready to meet the demands of tomorrow’s economy.
Since the announcement of the Center’s Life Sciences Internship Challenge in March, over 500 applicants have submitted requests for placement in the program. Additionally, more than 70 research institutions and companies have committed involvement in the program. As a result, more than 70 applicants have been placed with mentors for this summer. MLSC is holding a launch event for the Internship Challenge Monday June 1, at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge.
The Internship Challenge is open to any student that is a resident of Massachusetts or enrolled full time in a four year college or university located in Massachusetts and majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics. The intern receives a $4,800 stipend for 8 weeks this summer while working with a host company that will provide a dedicated mentor, and meaningful internship opportunity. The need for increased internship opportunities was identified as a key finding in a recent study jointly released by MLSC and The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. It is the hope of the Center that this program will continue to inspire interest in the sciences and attract further industry development in the Massachusetts burgeoning life sciences industry.
The launch event will go from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Remarks will be provided by internship sponsors, including InVivo Therapeutics President & CEO Frank Reynolds, New England Peptide CEO Dave Robinson, NP Medical Inc. President Boris Levin, and Jane Staples, Director of Cooperative Education & Internship Programs at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. An expert panel will then answer questions submitted by the students. This session will be led by MLSC President and CEO Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, with panelists including MLSC Scientific Advisory Board Chairman Harvey Lodish, former Vertex Pharmaceuticals President & CEO and MLSC Board member Joshua Boger, Cytonome Inc. CEO and MLSC Board Member Lydia Villa-Komaroff, and Carmichael Roberts, Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners specializing in investments in the life sciences.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tasked with implementing the Massachusetts Life Sciences Act, a ten-year, $1 billion initiative that was signed into law in June of 2008. The Center’s mission is to create jobs in the life sciences and support vital scientific research that will improve the human condition. This work includes making financial investments in public and private institutions that are advancing life sciences research, development and commercialization as well as building ties between sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community.
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a leading, nonprofit research and educational institution that has defined the cutting edge of biomedical science, creating a legacy of research excellence and academic eminence since 1982. Wholly independent in its governance, finances and research programs, Whitehead shares a teaching affiliation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), offering the intellectual, collegial and scientific benefits of a leading research university.
Additional articles on the subject.
*Updated 7/21/09
Center will provide $3.4 million to support seven early-stage life sciences companies in Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts, (April 29, 2008) –The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (the “Center”), a quasi-public agency tasked with implementing the State’s $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, today announced the awarding of $3.4 million in loans to seven early-stage life sciences companies in Massachusetts. The Center’s Accelerator Program provides loans of up to $500,000 to early-stage companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing. The Center’s Board of Directors approved the first-ever round of Accelerator loans today. Seven companies will receive loans out of a total of eighty-eight applications that were submitted to the Center for consideration.
