MetroWest Biotechs Benefit From Grant Program
About a dozen biotech companies across MetroWest are benefiting from a round of grant awards through the federal government's Therapeutic Discovery Grant Program.
One beneficiary is Wadsworth Medical Technologies, which will receive $172,000 through the program, to help it bring its medical device technology to market.
"This money is going to specifically be used to speed up the production and testing of the product, which will bring it to market sooner, and help our business grow faster," said Andrew Fox, president, CEO and founder of the Westborough-based firm.
Fox plans to hire a small sales staff within the coming months. The product, which helps close wounds, is already being manufactured but Fox and his team want to continue testing it on a few more hundred patients and with dozens of additional doctors.
The federal government made $1 billion available through the health-care reform bill for small businesses (under 250 employees) that are developing technologies to treat unmet medical needs, or ones that prevent and detect disorders.
List of Therapeutic Discovery Grant Program awardees.
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According to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Massachusetts received the highest per-capita allocation of grants from the federal government, more than double the per-capita amount the next closest state received (California).
Susan Windham-Bannister, president of the Waltham-based Life Sciences Center, said the grant program will create jobs. But she admitted that not all of the benefitting companies will ultimately be successful.
"All companies go through a success cycle," she said. "Some will make it and some will not. What's important is that companies with strong potential have investments that will help them move forward." Even if small pharmaceutical companies do not turn into the next multi-national Massachusetts-born company, they still play an important role by making breakthrough discoveries, according to Windham-Bannister.
Another MetroWest company benefiting from the Therapeutic Discover Grant Program is Avaxia Biologics of Wayland, which will receive a $220,000 grant from the federal government. Avaxia is developing medications to treat gastrointestinal disorders.
"This program is very stimulating to the economy," said Barbara Fox, Avaxia's founder. "We're going to be spending money now hiring someone that we would not have done until next year otherwise."
For other companies, the grant represents a "windfall," according to Harry Bennett of Lubris Inc. in Framingham. Given the heightened competitiveness of venture capital financing, especially early stage investing, the $220,929 his company will receive this year is an enormous boost.
"Unless you have some sort of platform of base funding, Series A and early-round venture funding is extremely difficult right now," he said. "Investors are not jumping on right now. That's why these government programs are so valuable."
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