The following is an excerpt from a Boston Business Journal story that originally published on April 28, 2023.
Gov. Maura Healey is set to reauthorize the state’s Life Sciences Initiative, paving the way for a third iteration of a multimillion-dollar spending bill to incentivize the growth of the state’s biopharmaceutical industry.
Healey confirmed the plans in an exclusive interview with the Business Journal on Wednesday. She declined, however, to name exactly what kind of budget her administration is allocating. The reauthorization of the initiative will likely need to gain legislative approval as well.
Industry groups have been lobbying the Healey administration to sign a “Life Sciences Initiative 3.0” since last fall. In November, the trade group MassBio — short for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council — said publicly that it would push for a reauthorization during the 2023-24 legislative session “in order to sustain and protect Massachusetts’ leadership for this industry.”
And on Tuesday, she gave a keynote address at MassBio’s annual “State of Possible” conference, homing in on Massachusetts’ need to compete with other states.
“Making those investments is really important,” Healey said. “Life sciences didn’t just happen. We didn’t become the global epicenter because we woke up one day and had a lot of life sciences stuff going on. It happened because a former governor, you know, set a mark and made an intentional effort to say, ‘We as a state are going to lean in and make this investment.’ And here we are, many years later.”