Earlier this month I joined Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and members of his administration on a trade mission to the West Coast. The trade mission was an opportunity to showcase why Massachusetts is a great place to do business for companies in information technology, life sciences and other sectors. For us at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), the visit to California was an opportunity to initiate a dialogue with leading life sciences companies and venture capital firms. Our primary goal was to raise awareness among both companies and venture capital firms in the Bay area about Massachusetts’ $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative and what the initiative might do for them.
To make the best use of our time, we targeted a handful of adolescent as well as more established life sciences companies and several key venture capital firms with portfolio companies already in Massachusetts. In addition to meeting with individual business leaders, we also participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotech companies, and Bay Bio, California’s life sciences trade organization representing 1,377 life sciences companies, mostly from the Bay area.
We received a tremendous response from the companies and venture capital firms we met with. A pleasant surprise was that they are all familiar with Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Initiative. They also are impressed with our strategy to leverage private investment through the targeted use of public dollars, and with our return on investment thus far. Just eight months have passed since the signing of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative and to date, the Center has committed $33 million in public investment in the life sciences, leveraged more than $327 million in additional non-profit and private investment, and helped to create hundreds of jobs across our state at a critical time.
Massachusetts’ approach to supporting the life sciences is different than what any other state has attempted. Our comprehensive approach addresses biotech, medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and bioinformatics, and includes $250 million in tax incentives, $500 million in infrastructure support, and $250 million in a programmatic investment fund. We are using this investment fund to support early stage companies, support the growth of our more established industry leaders, fund new investigators, support recruitment of top-notch faculty at our world-class academic institutions, further strengthen our workforce, and promote technology transfer.
During our California visits we talked about the benefits of locating facilities in Massachusetts, and focusing investment dollars in our innovation pipeline. One program that caught people’s attention was our Corporate Consortium Program, established late last year with charter member Johnson & Johnson, through which corporate partners can co-invest with the center in promising new technologies with significant commercial potential. (More information on the Corporate Consortium Program can be found here.)
Most of the companies with whom we met were either engaged in business or interested in becoming engaged in Massachusetts. Many were educated here and frequently are in transit between the two poles of the life sciences industry. We were struck by the many life-long fans we met of the Boston Red Sox, Celtics and New England Patriots! Investors with whom we met consider the $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative a sign that Massachusetts is committed to offering a favorable climate for life sciences companies despite the current economy. They commend Governor Patrick for “staying the course.”
In contrast, we heard substantial concern about the business climate in California. Many feel that California’s economic future is on shaky ground because of a budget shortfall of over $40 billion. While all states have budget challenges to address, they see that Massachusetts remains focused on creating jobs, driving innovation, and supporting good science.
We returned from this trip optimistic about the opportunities for bi-coastal collaboration, with new relationships in place, and a number of follow-up meetings planned to move these conversations forward. This type of dialogue is essential to laying the foundation upon which Massachusetts will grow ourselves out of this touch economic climate.
Author: Susan Windham-Bannister
Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister is a nationally and internationally recognized innovation expert. She was recognized by the Boston Globe as one of the “10 Most Influential Women in Biotech” in 2013 and by Boston Magazine as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Boston” in 2011. Dr. Windham-Bannister currently serves as Managing Partner of Biomedical Innovation Advisors LLC, which she founded with Dr. Harvey Lodish, co-founder of Genzyme, and member of the Whitehead Institute, MIT. She also serves as the President and CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies, LLC. Both of these advisory firms leverage Dr. Windham-Bannister’s experience as the immediate past President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a state-funded investment organization charged with administering the $1-billion Life Sciences fund that was proposed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007 and signed into law in June 2008. She is the first African American in the U.S. to lead a life sciences-focused innovation initiative of this scale. The MLSC is the hub for all sectors of the Commonwealth’s life sciences community – biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical diagnostics and bioinformatics.
As CEO, Dr. Windham-Bannister was responsible for the Center’s investment strategy, brand management, organizational development and return on public investment. She also was a member of the Center’s Board of Directors with Joshua Boger Ph.D., founder of Vertex; Adelene Perkins, CEO of Infinity Pharmaceuticals; Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Ph.D., founder and CSO of Cytonome-ST; Abbie Celniker, CEO of Eleven Biotherapeutics; Edward Benz, M.D., President of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Peter Slavin, M.D., President of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Under Dr. Windham-Bannister’s leadership, the MLSC invested nearly $700 million of the fund, leveraged another $2.7 billion in matching investment capital, established Massachusetts as the global leader in life sciences, and made the life sciences the fastest job-producing sectors of the Massachusetts economy. In September 2013, the MLSC won a national competition for “Excellence in Technology-Based Economic Development.”
Since completing her tenure as President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, Dr. Windham-Bannister has been an advisor to other city, state and regional life sciences initiatives. Her work with the New York City Partnership Fund resulted in a $1.1B New York life sciences initiative, announced by Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio in December 2016. Currently she is advising the Mayo Clinic on an implementation plan for its Destination Medical Center/Discovery Square Initiative. Dr. Windham-Bannister has been an invited speaker on public-private partnerships for accelerating innovation at numerous national conferences and at international conferences in Barcelona, Beijing, London and Stockholm.
Before assuming her role at the MLSC, Dr. Windham-Bannister was co-founder and Managing Partner of Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions (ABS), a boutique consulting firm serving life sciences companies. She led the firm’s Commercial Strategy Group, which formulated market access and competitive business strategies for global clients. In her 35-year consulting career, she has been instrumental in the successful launch of a number of well-known therapeutics, medical devices and novel biomarkers, and has supported a number of high-profile M&A’s. Her client base included early stage as well as Fortune 50 life sciences (Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, Roche), technology (IBM, GE) and financial services companies (CIGNA, Prudential, The Hartford, CitiGroup).
Dr. Windham-Bannister has been recognized as one of the Harvard Club’s “12 Women to Watch” (2012) and by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce with a Pinnacle Award for career achievement (2013). Other awards include the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus Abigail Adams Award (2009), the Science Club for Girls Catalyst Award (2011), the Freedom House Champions of Freedom Award (2012), the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts Leading Women Award (2012), the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston & Affiliates Hero in Health Care Award (2012).
Dr. Windham-Bannister has co-authored two books: Competitive Strategy for Health Care Organizations, and Medicaid and Other Experiments in State Health Policy. She also has written numerous articles on competition in today’s health care marketplace and is a frequent speaker at national and international life sciences conferences.
Dr. Windham-Bannister received a B.A. from Wellesley College, a Doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Florence Heller School at Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (honoris causa). She completed her doctoral work at the Heller School under a fellowship from the Ford Foundation and was also a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. Dr. Windham-Bannister also served as a Fellow in the Center for Science and Policy (CSAP) at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
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