WORCESTER – Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - Governor Deval Patrick and Susan Windham-Bannister, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, visited Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Gateway Park today for a discussion of life sciences job growth in the park and the region. WPI recently received approval for a $6.6 million grant from the Center for Phase II construction at Gateway Park. The Governor met with leaders from WPI, the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Sciences, and Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), all of whom have benefitted from the Center’s investment. The Governor also met employees of the companies and organizations located in the park, including employees of RXi Pharmaceuticals, a company that is participating in a cooperative research project with UMass Medical School (UMMS) that is funded through the Center’s Cooperative Research Matching Grant Program. Both grants were made under the Patrick-Murray Administration’s 10-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative.
“Our number one priority is putting shovels in the ground and people to work right now,” said Governor Patrick. “The upcoming construction at Gateway Park is a great example of that. To date, the Life Sciences Center has invested $186 million in public funds, leveraging more than $700 million in additional investment, and creating more than 6,400 projected jobs. Nearly 65% of the dollars invested thus far have been invested in Central Massachusetts, which is a testament to both the economic development and scientific discovery that is happening here.”
The WPI grant, approved by the Life Sciences Center Board of Directors on February 24th, 2010, leverages $25 million in private investment for the development of a new 80,000-square-foot life sciences facility anticipated to create 120 construction jobs and 142 new permanent jobs at completion. The grant supports the development of WPI’s Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center (BETC); a new incubator for MBI; and expanded academic and research space, including new facilities for the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science. The BETC is planning a 10,000-square-foot facility that will provide hands-on biomanufacturing training to support industry workforce development. MBI is planning to expand its incubator resources by developing a new wet-lab core facility to help more companies launch, grow and provide jobs. MBI currently operates three life sciences incubators in Central Massachusetts (one of which is located in the first Gateway Park building) and has graduated 30 companies, creating 265 new jobs since 2000. The Cooperative Research Grant, totaling $750,000 and approved by the Center’s Board of Directors in January of 2009, funded a collaboration between UMMS and RXi Pharmaceuticals for the development of orally delivered RNAi therapeutics. More specifically, the grant will fund the use of RXi’s rxRNA™ compounds and an oral delivery technology developed by UMMS that encapsulates the rxRNA™ compounds with micron-sized particles. This technology provides for efficient oral delivery of RNAi therapeutic compounds and directs these compounds to specific cell types that are involved in inflammatory diseases.
“Significant growth in the life sciences is taking place in the Worcester area, thanks in large part to the more than $100 million in investments that the Center has made in the region,” said Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “Our investment in Gateway Park will help to accelerate that growth even further, while supporting a terrific project that will create jobs, provide training for a next generation of life sciences workers, foster the growth of new companies and advance scientific research.”
“We are delighted to welcome Governor Patrick and Susan Windham-Bannister, president of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, back to Gateway Park,” said WPI president Dennis Berkey. “There is a bright future ahead for this hub for scientific and technological advancement and economic growth. The $6.6 million in funding that WPI recently received from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will provide direct support for training in biomanufacturing, new business creation, and advanced research in life science applications. This will create opportunity for development of new therapies and devices that can improve human health and can help spur job growth in the Commonwealth.”
“In just three short years we’ve had seven companies come through our incubator creating 55 jobs,” said Kevin O’Sullivan, President & CEO of MBI. “The partnership with the Patrick/Murray Administration, the Legislature and the Life Sciences Center has been tremendous, and the expansion of this facility will contribute to our ongoing success in creating jobs.”
“The Life Sciences Center’s grant recognizes the potential of RNAi therapeutics to be administered orally to treat human inflammatory diseases,” said Noah Beerman, President and Chief Executive Officer of RXi. “The partnership with UMass Medical School offers a unique combination of resources, talents and technologies that may transform the development of RNAi therapeutics and the future practice of medicine.”
“Biotechnology represents the future of economic growth in the Commonwealth, particularly here in the Worcester area. The Life Sciences Initiative is an investment in a growing industry that will create jobs in Central Massachusetts, and spur continued, long-term growth for generations to come,” said Senator Michael Moore.
“The future of our economy is based on a strong and vibrant life sciences presence in Central Massachusetts. Massachusetts boasts one of the largest biomedical clusters in the world, and supporting this initiative is critical to its continued growth,” said Representative Vincent A. Pedone.
“The life sciences sector will continue to play a key role in Massachusetts’ economic recovery, and this is in no small part due to the bill that Governor Patrick and the Legislature passed in 2008. The tax incentives provided by the Life Sciences Center under that bill combined with incubators like MBI will help to solidify the Commonwealth’s leadership in this vital industry,” said Representative John J. Binienda.
“We are deeply grateful for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s leadership in supporting the remarkable work at Gateway Park and other statewide efforts to make Massachusetts a leader in the life sciences field,” said Mayor Joseph C. O’Brien.
About the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tasked with implementing the Massachusetts Life Sciences Act, a ten-year, $1 billion initiative that was signed into law in June of 2008. The Center’s mission is to create jobs in the life sciences and support vital scientific research that will improve the human condition. This work includes making financial investments in public and private institutions that are advancing life sciences research, development and commercialization as well as building ties between sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community. For more information, visit www.masslifesciences.com.
About RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation
RXi Pharmaceuticals is a discovery-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing the development and commercialization of proprietary therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi) for the treatment of human diseases. RXi has a comprehensive therapeutic platform that includes both novel RNAi compounds and advanced delivery methods that can potentially be applied for local and systemic applications, against targets that may be undruggable by other modalities. RXi uses its proprietary version of RNAi compounds -- rxRNA -- that provide an advanced alternative to conventional small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and define the next generation of RNAi technology. These include rxRNAoriTM, rxRNAsoloTM, and sd-rxRNA (or “self delivering” RNA), which are distinct from, and potentially convey significant advantages over, classic siRNA’s. RXi Pharmaceuticals believes it is well positioned to compete successfully in the RNAi therapeutics market based on the strength of its next generation therapeutic platform, experienced management team, accomplished Scientific Advisory Board, including Dr. Craig Mello, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of RNAi, and its broad intellectual property position in RNAi chemistry and delivery. http://www.rxipharma.com
About Gateway Park
Gateway Park was developed as a joint venture of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC). The park has transformed a former 19th century brownfields industrial site into a clean, 12-acre campus for life sciences companies, academic research, workforce training, and associated operations. Gateway Park anchors the first Growth District designated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for life sciences and related economic development. The significant public and private investments already made at Gateway Park (including an 880-space parking facility) have primed the site for immediate development. The first complex at Gateway Park is WPI’s Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center (LSBC), which opened in 2007 and is now fully occupied. The $53 million, 125,000 square-foot facility, is home to a mix of academic and commercial entities including graduate research programs in biology and biotechnology, chemistry and biochemistry, biomedical engineering and chemical engineering. The LSBC contains several advanced research core facilities and a bioprocessing laboratory, all available for contracted services and workforce training. Among the growing companies now at Gateway Park are Blue Sky Biotech, a contract research company, CellThera, with its tissue regeneration research program funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and RXi Pharmaceuticals, co-founded by Nobel Laureate Craig Mello to develop RNAi-based therapeutics. For more information, visit www.gatewayparkworcester.com.
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one of the nation’s first engineering and technology universities. WPI’s14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees. WPI’s world-class faculty work with students in a number of cutting-edge research areas, leading to breakthroughs and innovations in such fields as biotechnology, fuel cells, and information security, materials processing, and nanotechnology. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university’s innovative Global Perspective Program. There are 25 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe. For more information visit www.wpi.edu
