Biotech law holds local aid

Promises to boost infrastructure, jobs

Governor Deval Patrick made a pitch for his administration's biotechnology program at a State House hearing in October. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/file 2007)

Framingham and Worcester are big local winners - and Shrewsbury businesses may also get a boost - now that Governor Deval Patrick has signed into law a new bill to spend $1 billion to grow biotechnology companies in the state.

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Law, which Patrick signed on Monday, includes $500 million for capital improvements, $250 million in corporate tax incentives, and $250 million in grants. The initiative is expected to mean hundreds of jobs for the region.

The University of Massachusetts campus in Worcester, just over the Lake Quinsigamond bridge from Shrewsbury's stretch of retail businesses along Route 9, will receive $90 million to create a new research center. Framingham will receive $12.9 million for water and sewer expansion, largely for the benefit of the Genzyme Corp., which is adding a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing building to its complex near the Massachusetts Turnpike and Route 9 interchange on the western edge of town. The new building, the 15th on the Genzyme campus, is already under construction, as the life-sciences company received assurances from state officials that the funding for water and sewer expansion would be approved, said Bo Piela, a Genzyme spokesman. Now that it's official, the company is cheering for more than just the infrastructure boost.

"The significance for Genzyme is much larger than this project," said Piela. "The passage of this bill sends the signal that Massachusetts is supportive of the life-sciences industry."

Competition with other states and countries is intense, but Massachusetts has "one of the greatest life-sciences clusters in the world," allowing companies like Genzyme to readily collaborate with nearby business partners and academic institutions, said Piela.

Genzyme, its nearly $4 billion in revenue last year making it the biggest biotech company in the state, has more than 10,000 employees in about 40 countries, but is based in Massachusetts, with other locations in Waltham and Westborough as well as Allston and Cambridge.

Genzyme does most of its scientific research in Framingham, and has about 2,000 employees in town, said Piela. The newest Framingham building, where the company will manufacture protein-based drugs primarily used to treat rare, inherited diseases, will add about 300 jobs, he said.

State Senator Karen Spilka, who supported the bill and lobbied for the Framingham money, said it will pay for itself by generating commercial tax revenue and new jobs in the fast-growing economic sector.

"We know this sector will continue to grow," said Spilka, an Ashland Democrat whose district includes Framingham. "It does some wonderful things for the state to put us at a competitive advantage, I believe."

The water and sewer expansion adds capacity for other potential commercial growth in the area, which is also home to sound-equipment maker Bose Corp.

The law's $90 million earmark for the UMass Medical School in Worcester will help fund a $440 million "advanced therapeutics cluster," which will house research on gene therapy and stem cell biology, according to Mark Shelton, a spokesman for the university.

The 500,000-square-foot facility will accommodate about 80 new faculty researchers and 700 scientific and support staff members, all working toward disease cures, he said.

"What I hope will come from this are cures for diseases like type 1 diabetes, which afflicts my daughter," said Nobel Prize laureate Craig C. Mello, a professor of molecular medicine and cell biology at UMass, in a statement from the university. "Right now, people are suffering with diseases that could be treated, at least in principle, by the advanced therapeutics we're contemplating. So I feel that we have to do this - it's like a moral obligation to intervene when you see something wrong and you have an opportunity to help."

Mello, a Shrewsbury resident, helped conceptualize and launch the advanced therapeutics cluster. As a separate item, the new state law also creates the Dr. Craig C. Mello Small Business Equity Investment Fund.

UMass-Worcester is the economic engine for the area, according to Dan Morgado, Shrewsbury's town manager.

"Obviously anything that happens with the UMass Medical School or the hospital or associated spinoffs . . . is great for the town of Shrewsbury," he said. "So many of our residents are employed by the UMass system and associated entities. . . . It's good for the region, good for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and good for Shrewsbury."

Even with those benefits, Morgado said, he would like to see the state share a host fee with the communities that supply municipal services for such nonprofits.

Other funding in the new law includes $95 million for a life-sciences research center at UMass-Amherst, $10 million for a biomanufacturing facility at UMass-Lowell, $9 million for a life-sciences center in Taunton, and $6.5 million to support new businesses in Pittsfield.

Patrick signed the law just before leading a delegation to San Diego for a major international biotechnology convention, which is seen as an opportunity to attract new companies to Massachusetts.

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@ globe.com.