The following is an excerpt from a front page story in the Boston Business Journal originally published on August 28, 2024:
Massachusetts biotech leaders said the proposed law would slow innovation and that the high-quality, large-scale labor handled by overseas companies is difficult to find stateside.
At the same time, while the legislation could prove time-consuming and costly for local biotechs, some local life science and legislative leaders said it also presents an opportunity for Massachusetts — to invest in its own biomanufacturing rather than relying on Chinese companies.
“Now is our time to really make sure that we’re making that investment. Because, if not Massachusetts, another cluster in the country will try to take that leadership position,” said Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, CEO of the trade group MassBio.
“We appreciate the movement that is happening right now in Washington D.C.,” he said, “(but) I think if drastic action were taken to immediately cut off supplies from groups like Wuxi, it would have a dramatic impact on patients.”
Burlin O’Connell agreed that “it absolutely will take away from the progress of their innovation in science, because they’re channeling resources to having to find other partners.” As for her preferred solution, she said, “the faster we can move here in Massachusetts to bring partners to the table and open up further capacity, the easier it makes that transition for our biotech companies.”
McArthur said PepGen doesn’t rely on a single supplier — a lesson learned during the pandemic, when supply chains broke down. But many small biotech companies don’t have the luxury of time and funding to work with multiple CDMOs or CROs.
But Jake Becraft, co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics in Boston, said there is generally a lack of biomanufacturing capacity in the U.S. Becraft believes a lot of companies would like to use domestic manufacturing services if they existed (he declined to share Strand’s suppliers).
The challenge is that biomanufacturing margins are low, especially with U.S. interest rates so high, Becraft said. He sees a need for new funding models, whether that’s a nonprofit, public-private partnership or something else. No matter the approach, Becraft believes there needs to be government intervention.
“It’s going to require funding….you can’t expect the free market to come and fill that back in if the margins aren’t there. And so that becomes a question for the government, which is, is this a priority?” Becraft said.