The following are excerpts from a Boston Business Journal story posted on December 22, 2025, and quoting MassBio CEO & President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell and two MassBio members, including Drive graduate Eascra Biotech:
Local biotechs are sounding the alarm about the loss of federal funding for early-stage startups, and its impact on Massachusetts’ life sciences industry.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs ended on Sept. 30 because Congress failed to reauthorize them. These programs are known as an important source of early-stage, non-dilutive technology funding for small businesses.
As Congress continues to debate reforms to SBIR and STTR, biotechs in Massachusetts are calling for the programs to be reinstated in order to create and advance new companies.
Mari Anne Snow, CEO of Eascra Biotech, described how the company was founded several years ago during a “biotech winter,” when private funding for preclinical companies was hard to come by unless you had a notable history or spun out of a distinguished university. She said SBIR programs were crucial for Eascra in its fledgling years.
“We wouldn’t exist without these programs. We just wouldn’t exist,” Snow told the Business Journal.
Massachusetts organizations receive a significant share of the funding coming from SBIR and STTR, collectively known as America’s Seed Fund. In fact, Massachusetts entities received 10.2% of all awarded grants and 11.1% of all SBIR and STTR grant dollars in 2024, according to MassBio.
MassBio CEO Kendalle Burlin O’Connell said in a statement that “by allowing SBIR to sunset on Sept. 30, our ecosystem’s differentiator — startups — have lost an avenue for non-dilutive funding in an already tight investment environment as they push to deliver for patients.”