State seeks industry's input on life sciences proposal; Official says medical device companies need to be competitive

DATELINE: BOSTON

The governor's proposed $1 billion life sciences initiative would benefit medical device companies in Massachusetts, but state officials want the industry's suggestions on how to spend the money to gain the biggest impact, said state Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O'Connell.

"We want to enhance the competitiveness of this industry in Massachusetts, and that's where I need your help and guidance," Mr. O'Connell said at a Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council investors' forum at the Park Plaza Hotel.

Mr. O'Connell, speaking to about 430 entrepreneurs, investors and industry officials, made his remarks during a week in which Gov. Deval L. Patrick has been pressing legislators and the public to support a proposal to make $100 million in grants, capital spending and tax credits available over 10 years for scientific research and corporate development.

The proposal would include money to create a stem cell registry and the world's largest stem cell bank at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

Mr. O'Connell told the MassMEDIC conference that the state wants to assist companies.

"We do not want to compete with private venture capital, but if we can come in before investors...we would like to do that," he said.

Massachusetts ranks as one of the top five states in the country for medical device companies by shipments, employment, payroll and value added to products, according to a study last year from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The state is home to nearly 300 companies producing medical devices, including large employers such as Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp.

Yet many medical device companies are tiny and in the early stages of developing products. Among those making presentations to investors yesterday were Worcester businesses Crescent Innovations Inc., which is developing a polymer treatment for the jaw ailments known as temporomandibular joint disorders, and SIV Technologies Inc., which has created radiofrequency nuclear resonance technology to identify compounds. Each company employs just three people.

Much of the publicity surrounding Mr. Patrick's proposed life science initiative has focused on stem cells, but MassMEDIC President Thomas J. Sommer said he expects medical device companies would be able to obtain funding, too.

"The more the life science environment can be enhanced in the state, that's good news for pharmaceuticals, for biotechnology, for medical devices," Mr. Sommer said. "We're very aware of what's going on and confident there will be medical device projects funded."