Two top biotech players in Massachusetts are putting a spotlight on a controversial provision of the state's new $1 billion support program for the industry. According to John Maraganore, CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and Amir Nashat, general partner of Polaris Venture Partners, the state's initiative gives one company the right to "cherry-pick all public sector-funded advances produced at a Massachusetts academic institution."
Writing in the Boston Herald, the two say the rule will dramatically reduce academic groups' ability to spin off new companies and reduce the appetite of venture capital groups for new investments. And they note that California and other states got it right with their programs. Now it's up to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to correct the situation.
- read the op-ed piece in the Boston Herald