MA life sciences center faces budget cuts

Massachusetts state lawmakers are considering cutting the operating budget for the Massachusetts Life Science Center by one-third to $10 million, the Boston Herald reports. The Waltham, MA-based center--charged with helping to dole out the state's $1 billion life science fund--supports start-ups through the drug development phase. After operation costs, this year's $15 million budget will allow MLSC to inject $12.3 million into the Massachusetts life sciences industry, through such things as research grants and investments. MLSC was given another $25 million for tax incentives and $500 million in investment funds. 

In March, the center awarded Tufts University $9.5 million for a new biosafety lab and granted seven companies another $3.4 million in loans in April. According to MLSC spokesperson Angus McQuilken, since its inception in 2006, the center has invested $46 million in the life sciences sector, which has led to $357 million in private and federal investments and the creation of 950 new jobs. Funding cuts "would limit the center's ability to make investments, and the consequences would be reduced revenue for the state and fewer jobs," McQuilken told reporters in a conference call from the BIO convention this week.

Governor Deval Patrick is confident MLSC will receve the funds it needs to continue to support the state's biotech sector. "To do otherwise would be very short-sighted thinking," Patrick said.

- read the article in the Boston Herald

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