Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Tech Life Sciences Hearing HB 4234 An Act Providing for the Investment in and Expansion of the Life Sciences Industry in the Commonwealth, Testimony of Christopher Anderson

Thank you, Chairman Hart and Chairman Bosley for the opportunity to discuss this important legislation and additional measures that the Massachusetts High Technology Council and its CEO members recommend to make Massachusetts more competitive for the long term.

The Massachusetts High Technology Council was formed in 1977 by high tech CEOs whose mission was to help make Massachusetts the most competitive state in which to create, operate, and expand high tech businesses.  That remains our mission today.  Council members employ hundreds of thousands of skilled workers in all of Massachusetts’s key technology sectors, including computer hardware, software, medical products, semiconductor, telecommunications and of course, life sciences.  Our board includes the executive leadership of tech employers such as Vertex, Millipore, Analog Devices, Dynamic Research, Teradyne, and Genzyme.

Massachusetts has long been viewed as an epicenter for emerging technology and our world class R&D centers are recognized internationally.  In recent years, however, aggressive action by other states including North Carolina, Michigan and California and great strides taken in education and innovation in China, Singapore and India have made Massachusetts’ once lofty perch more precarious. 

In May, at the largest BIO conference in history, the Mass High Tech Council presented A Critical Alliance: the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries in Massachusetts along with Millipore Chairman and CEO Martin Madaus.  This report detailed Massachusetts biopharma industry health relative to its foreign and domestic competitors and also showed the ever blurring lines that once delineated the pharmaceutical industry from the biotech industry from the medical devices industry.  The “bleed’ from one industry sector to another was most notable when we traced the investment.  These previously clearly defined sectors had become so interconnected that in some areas they are indistinguishable from one another.  In fact the study showed that: 

From 2000-2006, 13 of the leading pharmaceutical firms in Massachusetts invested more than $13.4 billion in 357 alliances with state biotech companies – at least 3X the annual venture capital investment in Massachusetts biotech firms. 

The estimated downstream value of these alliances is an additional $14.7 billion – bringing the potential total long-term value of these alliances to more than $28 billion.

At that same conference, Governor Patrick announced a $1 Billion Life Sciences Initiative.  We stood alongside the business community as the announcement was made and applauded this unprecedented investment in the state’s innovation economy.  We continue to applaud the measure that promises to enhance Massachusetts standing as the global center of life science excellence.

To that end, the Massachusetts High Technology Council strongly supports HB 4234 An Act providing for the investment in and expansion of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth.  The legislation represents the type of investment in infrastructure, R&D and science that spurs innovation and economic growth.  We are strongly in favor of the investment tax credits and user fee credit detailed in the legislation.  We have identified HB 4234 bill as one of the Council’s MassTrack votes for the 2007-2008 session, meaning that the votes cast by members of the General Court will be included in our assessment of overall support for a variety of public policy priorities established by the leadership of the state’s technology community.