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Stalled Life Sciences Bill Affecting Search for Life Science Center Director

By Catherine Williams
State House News Service

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 18, 2007...A languishing life sciences bill is hobbling an administration-led recruiting effort to hire a life sciences guru to head up a new center dedicated at making state-funded life sciences research and industry investments, state officials say.

State officials on Monday reviewed the first batch of potential candidates - 34 people - to fill an executive director post at the fledgling Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. The center, which was established in 2006, is responsible for managing a budget of $25 million and plans to dole out its first research grants and loans in the spring.

If Gov. Deval Patrick's $1 billion, 10-year life sciences bill passes, the center's budget would quadruple to $100 million annually, making the job a more high-profile post. But lawmakers, expressing concern about favoring one industry over another, have yet to move the bill forward. Until the bill moves, it will be difficult to lure candidates away from private sector jobs or academic research posts, said Melissa Walsh, the chief of staff at the center.

"The biggest challenge facing the center right now is (the lack of) a signed piece of legislation," said Walsh.

The center, which is governed by a five-member board chaired by Housing and Economic Development Secretary Dan O'Connell, hired Washington-based recruiting firm Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct the search. Russell Reynolds began the search six week ago and plans to hold a first round of interviews at the end of January or early February, said Anne Martin Simonds, managing director at Russell Reynolds. The firm is planning final interviews in March, said Walsh, but the timing may need to "bend and weave given the realities around the legislation."

Simonds said that because of the questionable outcome of the bill, candidates may not want to meet with the search committee until there is resolution on the bill.

The list of potential candidates spans venture capitalists, academic research professors, medical device and health care industry executives, and gene research professionals, said Walsh. The list includes several people from Massachusetts and candidates based in Delaware, Washington, New York, Florida and California.

O'Connell said the administration and legislative leaders have agreed to schedule for passing the bill, and downplayed any impact on the search. He estimates the position would pay between $250,000 and $300,000.

"I think since we now have agreement on a timetable for passage of the bill that there is a high level of confidence in the industry that we will have a bill," said O'Connell. "Because of that agreement there's been no negative impact on the search or on industry decisions."

But without a decision on the center's budget, Walsh and Simonds said, the firm is asking candidates to "table" the salary question for now, said Simonds.

"The money is more than an elephant in the room," said Walsh. "We need to highlight the value of this entity moving forward and the promise that it holds for the life sciences."

In California, an agency in charge of overseeing state-funded stem cell research investments has recently named a new chief. Alan Trounson, a research scientist who founded the Australian Stem Cell Centre, is expected to take up as president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the end of the month.

The interim president, Richard Murphy, was paid $300,000 for six months of work.

On Friday the California Institute awarded 22 faculty awards worth $54 million. The institute is planning its largest grant distribution to date - worth $250 million for infrastructure improvements including new buildings, equipment and laboratories - in the spring of 2008, said Ellen Rose, a spokesperson for The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The California institute, which is funded via a $3 billion voter-approved bond, has awarded $260 million in 156 grants to academia and industry since 2005, despite opposition that tied up the initiative in the California courts.

In Connecticut, state officials have doled out $20 million to date for academic or industry-related stem cell research. Lawmakers there voted to invest $100 million in the life sciences industry, which employs 32,800 workers there, over the next decade. The state is reviewing 85 applications for a second round of funding, worth $10 million, for academic centers, research institutions, and startup companies. State officials plan to award the funds in the April or May of 2007, according to Connecticut state health officials.

Patrick is eager to get his bill passed to compete with other states and bolster the Bay State's life sciences industry, which employs 42,323 workers, according to study by Northeastern University. In the meantime the center is at work on launching three sets of grants for researchers and industry and is in the midst of plans to launch a stem cell research institute and stem cell line library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

As the year comes to a close the bill sits, in pieces, in legislative committees until lawmakers can agree on what parts of the bill are in and what parts are better left out. But Patrick has faced criticism for the bill from business leaders, who say the bill rewards only one industry.

Officials at the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a business and industry advocacy group, are concerned about constitutional issues with the life sciences industry tax incentives in the bill.

"By and large we think is important to have an environment for all kinds of industry and not one so narrowly targeted," said, Brian Gilmore, executive vice president at AIM. Gilmore said because of the presence of other industries, including manufacturing and financial services, putting "all of our eggs in one basket is something we should be concerned about."