N.C. biotech group looks to draw Mass. firms south

"We've been watching from a safe distance while y'all's Legislature and city councils have been adopting policies that seriously undermine the economic viability of biotech companies," drawled the North Carolina Biosciences Organization vice president, referring to various efforts in Massachusetts to cut pharmaceutical drug costs.

Taylor's organization, an umbrella group for biotech companies in the Tar Heel State, has joined forces with North Carolina politicians in a letter-writing and advertising campaign to lure Massachusetts companies.

In a recent letter to a half-dozen CEOs in the Commonwealth, Richard Morgan, co-speaker of the North Carolina House, wrote that his state is "serious about promoting the biotechnology industry." Taylor's group, meanwhile, is paying for newspaper ads that urge Massachusetts biotech executives "to look south when next you plan for future growth."

"Instead of slashing payments for state-of-the-art biotechnology products, North Carolina this year revealed plans to invest no less than $60 million in programs and facilities to train new workers," the ad boasts. "Instead of adopting programs designed to artificially manipulate the market for pharmaceuticals through price controls, our state leaders have demanded a comprehensive strategy for rewarding innovation and bringing the benefits of biotechnology to all parts of North Carolina."

Cities and states often try to persuade employers to relocate, but they don't usually bash politicians so overtly. In this case, Taylor says, Bay State politicians have earned it. Defying the FDA, Springfield Mayor Michael Albano launched a Canadian drug-import program for city employees, trimming $9 million from his strained city budget, and Boston and Cambridge have considered doing the same for their workers. Some lawmakers want the state to purchase drugs in bulk as a way to whittle down Medicaid expenses.

Several Massachusetts politicians scoffed at the suggestion that North Carolina can compete.

"Ultimately, they need to be in states where there is significant intellectual capital, and I hardly think North Carolina will be serious competition for the intellectual capital here," said Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat who has pushed bulk purchasing. "The main reason they're here is because of the academic research centers -- I don't think a cheesy ad in a newspaper would result in much."

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino suggested that the North Carolinians "have been in the sun too long."

"It's a scare tactic by a desperate state trying to steal industry from Massachusetts," he said.

But Tim Hunt, a spokesman for Cambridge-based Biogen Idec, which received Morgan's letter, said his company has been ruffled by the political winds in Massachusetts.

"It is troublesome, there's no question," said Hunt, who noted that Biogen Idec already employs about 400 people in North Carolina. "It should come as no surprise to anyone who follows our industry that there are some politicians in Massachusetts who have little regard for research-based biotechnology companies."

With worries like that, Taylor sees an opening for North Carolina. "We felt this would be a good opportunity to show North Carolina as a more favorable location for some of those businesses," he said.

Lisa Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for Morgan, said the co-speaker of the North Carolina House realizes that many of the furniture, farming, and textile jobs that have long sustained North Carolina's economy are vanishing, gone to places such as China and Mexico, where labor is cheaper. The future, Kimbrough said, is biotech.

"We have to be practical about retraining those people and getting them started on another career path," Kimbrough said. "They're not going to be able to get a job at a plant making socks."

Scott S. Greenberger can be reached at greenberger@globe .com.