Cal. Firms, Investors Look Toward Mass.
Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, says California's crumbling economy may prompt life sciences and biotechnology companies there to look east to Central Massachusetts.
Windham-Bannister is on a whirlwind trip of the West Coast this week with Gov. Deval Patrick meeting with venture capitalists, biotech firms and IT companies to interest them in Massachusetts and to forge personal connections that could help keep Massachusetts companies strong.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Windham-Bannister said venture capitalists were interested to hear about the center's grant programs, particularly its corporate collaboration efforts, which health care giant Johnson & Johnson got rolling with a $500,000 investment.
"We have had great conversations and a lot of receptivity to what we're doing," Windham-Bannister said. "We already have a number of action steps that we must follow up on the moment we get back. These are ‘get-it-done' type of people and it's been great because we have a rapid-fire style at the center."
Next week, she will conduct a planning meeting with a bioinformatics company that wants a Massachusetts office, she said. She'll also be setting up meetings with venture capitalists next week.
Windham-Bannister said she has also talked with California biotech startup companies and their investors about manufacturing their products in Massachusetts when they get to that stage. "I told them what was going on in the state beyond Boston and Worcester. They're very intrigued to hear what is happening in the Gardners, the Clintons and the Beverlys."
Windham-Bannister said that in the seven months the center has been up and running, it has awarded $33 million in grants that have resulted in $327 million in private investments and 800 jobs created.
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