On June 20, 2012, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and seven global biopharmaceutical companies announced the formation of the Massachusetts Neuroscience Consortium (the “Consortium”). Participating companies include Abbott, Biogen Idec, EMD Serono, Janssen Research & Development, LLC, Merck, Pfizer, and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. The Consortium will fund pre-clinical neuroscience at Massachusetts academic and research institutions. The announcement took place in the Massachusetts Pavilion at the 2012 BIO International Convention.