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Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Kendalle Burlin O'Connell wants biotech industry to look to Massachusetts for solutions
O'Connell, MassBio's chief executive, would argue that industry researchers and executives need each other more than ever in these tumultuous times. And she'll make the case at the BIO International Convention next week that the industry needs Massachusetts and its dense cluster of biotech innovators more than ever as well. Among other activities at BIO, O'Connell will share the stage next Tuesday with Governor Maura Healey and Thermo Fisher Scientific chief executive Marc Casper to discuss why Massachusetts remains the global epicenter for life sciences. Here's the message she'll try to convey: 'When there's uncertainty, when you don't know where to go, you go back to what has a proven track record of success. This is the place for innovation. This is the place for hope for patients.' Advertisement Other local speakers will include Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll , top Takeda executive Julie Kim , and Wendy Chung of Boston Children's Hospital . O'Connell was working as a lawyer in 2008 when then-chief executive Bob Coughlin persuaded her to oversee MassBio's purchasing consortium, rather than take a job at the Massachusetts Highway Department. She gradually worked her way up MassBio's ranks. Former state senator Joe Boncore replaced Coughlin after his departure; she took over a year later, and Boncore now has an active lobbying practice. Advertisement Lately, with all the threats facing the industry, MassBio is doing more federal lobbying than ever, she said, while reaching out to members of Congress from other states for the first time to make the industry's case. (Former state rep Ed Coppinger heads up MassBio's lobbying efforts.) Through it all, O'Connell remains relentlessly optimistic. 'We've navigated choppy waters before here in Massachusetts,' O'Connell said. 'The world needs what Massachusetts is doing as it relates to innovation.' Jump-starting a new kind of battery Can the 'American Battery Revival' get a jump-start in Massachusetts? AM Batteries chief executive Lie Shi and the Billerica manufacturer he leads are betting on it. The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week to celebrate its new 'Customer Success Center,' essentially a dry room and an electrode manufacturing production line that allows clients to do test runs, or hire AMB to make the electrodes for them. Shi was joined by US Representative Lori Trahan , state interim economic development secretary Ashley Stolba , and Lily Fitzgerald , of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative , among others. Roughly half the $5 million center's cost was funded through a state grant provided through MassTech. The company has doubled its workforce in the past year, adding 25 new jobs, with plans to add 15 more in 2025. Investors include TDK Ventures , Toyota Ventures , and Anzu Partners . Most batteries rely on a liquid mixture applied to the electrodes that helps them store and release energy. But AMB's technology, developed by Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor Yan Wang and Heng Pan (now at Texas A&M University ), uses a coating of dry powder instead, and as a result is more efficient and environmentally friendly. Advertisement Manufacturing batteries, Shi said, involves a careful balance of cost, performance, and sustainability. Usually, battery makers have to compromise on one aspect, but Shi said AMB's process excels in all three areas. 'All the battery makers realize this should be the future of manufacturing,' Shi said. Banking competition heats up The white gloves are coming off in Greater Boston's private banking battles. JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently held ribbon-cutting ceremonies at 14 branches for its new affluent banking arm, mostly at renovated former First Republic locations JPMorgan typically wields the Chase brand for its retail operations, but not this time. Instead, the signs out front say 'J.P. Morgan.' 'We're testing a new model, leveraging . . . the JPMorgan brand,' said Stevie Baron , head of affluent banking at New York-based JPMorgan. 'This is an opportunity to take the JPMorgan brand to focus more up market [though] we've got inspiration from First Republic.' The personalized banking services are available to customers with at least $750,000 of deposits and investable assets. (JPMorgan also has a private banking arm for much wealthier individuals, one without standalone branches.) First Republic's chocolate chip cookies have been replaced by squares of Dylan's chocolate. JPMorgan's rollout comes as Citizens Financial Group steps up its efforts to cater to wealthy customers through its own private bank. Citizens was among the bidders for the failed First Republic in 2023, but lost to JPMorgan. However, at least 150 bankers from First Republic left later that year to help Citizens launch the private bank. Advertisement Last year, Citizens reopened a former First Republic branch in the Back Bay to serve as its first private banking office in Boston, and it currently has four others across the United States with more on the way. (The chocolate chip cookies stayed on the menu.) The venture has turned a profit more quickly than chief executive Bruce Van Saun expected. 'I think there's a void in the market where First Republic played and Silicon Valley [Bank] played,' he said. 'A lot of the customers of those banks recognize that the personal level of service that the bankers offer was second to none, and Citizens is going to occupy that space.' Honoring Jack Connors' legacy When Eversource chief executive Joe Nolan wanted the right place to put a statue honoring his longtime friend, ad mogul-turned-philanthropist Jack Connors , he first considered a public park such as the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Nolan soon learned that city rules require at least a five-year waiting period for public art. So Nolan found a privately owned spot instead, and it turned out to be the most appropriate location in the city: at the base of 200 Clarendon, a.k.a. the John Hancock Tower. That's where Connors held court for four decades — first as chief executive of ad agency Hill Holliday , and then from his 'Joe's not waiting five years, that's clear,' said Sharon McNally , chief executive of Camp Harbor View , the charity Connors started and championed. 'It's a great solution.' On Saturday, at the annual Beach Ball for Camp Harbor View, Mayor Michelle Wu announced her support for the memorial. (Also that night, event planner Bryan Rafanelli , former mayor Marty Walsh , and Rev. John Unni of Saint Cecilia 'squeezed every penny out of the room' to raise $1 million in donations for the camp, McNally said.) Advertisement 'Boston thrives because of people like Jack, who build careers and lives dedicated to solving problems and doing good,' Wu said in a statement. 'I am delighted to partner with the Connors family and Joe Nolan to dedicate a permanent memorial to Jack in his beloved Back Bay, a lasting tribute to his life and legacy of service.' Nolan got to work soon after Connors died last July from pancreatic cancer. He consulted with members of Connors' family. Eventually, they agreed on a concept. The bronze statue would sit on a bench, with one arm outstretched, as if in a friendly conversation. 'No matter who you were, when he was talking to you, you were the most important person in the world to him,' Nolan said. Sculptor Pablo Eduardo has been tapped to make the statue, and Nolan hopes it will be installed sometime this fall. While tower landlord BXP will donate the space, Nolan plans to raise $2 million to cover the costs. Surplus funds will go to the camp. 'It won't be hard to raise,' Nolan said. 'Everyone wants to do something for Jack.' Jon Chesto can be reached at
Boston Globe
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Democratic state legislatures have started to take on Trump. What about Massachusetts?
Advertisement 'I am used to inaction from the Legislature,' Hille continued, pointing to the previous slow-moving session. 'But given the extent of the crisis that we're facing and the absolute importance of bold leadership in this moment ... I am surprised they have kept the same old timeline.' It wasn't always this way. In 2017, two weeks into Trump's first presidency, the Massachusetts Senate In Trump's second administration, Democratic-controlled states have already taken steps to fight sweeping policy changes. California Governor Gavin Newsom In Colorado, state legislators passed a resolution And in Connecticut, lawmakers Since the Massachusetts Legislature began its session Jan. 1, lawmakers have taken up bills aimed at helping residents affected by Trump's actions. Advertisement Legislative leaders say Trump's barrage of executive orders, and ongoing uncertainty about which will hold, has made it difficult to respond. Courts have blocked the president's efforts to Mariano told the Globe that in Trump's second term, the 'expanse of what he's got his hands on' has grown, saying, 'Every day is something different.' The speaker's remarks came after he voiced concerns at a MassBio conference about the administration cutting funds for public health research. 'We don't know where it all is going to land until it lands,' Mariano said. 'We can't make a budget — we're just shooting in the dark, and it's frustrating as hell." By contrast, members of Massachusetts' all-Democratic congressional delegation have held town halls criticizing unpopular Republican policies and responding to frustration among constituents. Attorney General Andrea Campbell has joined Governor Maura Healey, for her part, has Advertisement Some cities, meanwhile, have found other ways to challenge Trump's moves. Boston, Pittsfield, and Worcester have all passed measures declaring themselves to be Asked last week how the Legislature could respond, Senate President Karen Spilka replied, 'What do we take action on?' She called the variety of Trump's changes 'cold-hearted, cruel, and just disgusting,' saying she had heard from veterans in her district, for example, struggling to access benefits following layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 'Most of the cuts are there, then they disappear — it's like whiplash within not only the same week or day, but within an hour,' Spilka said. 'This is probably his strategy, to flood the zone and make it so it's hard to know what's real and what's not real.' Spilka said taking up resolutions, as the Legislature has done in the past 'may be an avenue we will go.' 'We are talking and we're working on issues, but we can't restore the veterans services, we can't restore the federal Department of Education, so we need to see some concrete things,' she added. Some, however, say that response isn't enough. As the Democratic Party faces its 'There's a lot happening, it's hard to keep track of, but this is what the job is for leaders — it's leaders' jobs to respond to it and make sure there is someone responsible in charge who's going to protect the state," said Vickash Mohanka, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. Advertisement 'We would love to see the state just do something, be more active, and take more decisive stances,' Mohanka added, noting that his organization had canceled some events out of fear of immigration raids. 'I would like them to show the U.S. what is possible.' Some lawmakers, too, feel the Legislature has been slow to react. 'People are hungry for leadership right now … we need to be matching their fight and matching their energy,' said state Representative Erika Uyterhoeven, a Somerville Democrat. 'We just have to think ahead. As much as there's a lot of uncertainty around what's happening in the White House, we understand their playbook now,' Uyterhoeven added, pointing to At 'I do think we need to do more,' Eldridge said. 'But things are happening so quickly ... it is by design, by the Trump administration, to numb people, to sort of get them to slow down because we're still recovering from what happened three days ago.' Advertisement Former state Representative Patricia Haddad, who chaired the Trump-focused working group alongside Mariano in 2017 and lost her re-election bid to a Republican last fall, said her former colleagues are 'doing what they have to do' in focusing on the budget; their priority should be ensuring 'communities feel supported and our departments feel like they can continue to perform their duties.' 'All my friends are out trying to make their constituents feel like it's going to be OK,' Haddad said. 'But at the end of the day, we have a little more knowledge, but we're in the same place. We don't know what's happening tomorrow.' Anjali Huynh can be reached at
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Healey warns researchers leaving, students may stay away
BOSTON (SHNS) – Gov. Maura Healey has spent the last few weeks using her bully pulpit to warn of a brain drain out of Massachusetts, as a consequence of President Donald Trump's cuts to research funding and the threat of foreign-born students being deported. 'I've talked a lot about my concerns with what's happening with other governments being on the ground here in Massachusetts, looking to lure postdocs away. This is very problematic for this important ecosystem, and it's certainly not, in my mind, consistent with the quote, 'America First agenda.' Ceding intellectual assets to China does not make America stronger; does not make America more competitive,' Healey said on Wednesday at MassBio's 'State of Possible' conference in Boston. Earlier this month at a press conference at Boston Children's Hospital warning about Trump's cuts to National Institutes of Health funding, Healey said 'China was on the campus' of the University of Massachusetts recruiting researchers whose work had been defunded or was in a state of uncertainty. 'I've also spoken with other communities who've reported that it's not limited to China. We have folks coming from the Middle East and from Europe, and that's their prerogative to come. They want talent, so they're coming to Massachusetts… because, effectively, the Trump administration is doing things that gives it away,' she said. Trump is seeking to reduce the size of medical research grants as part of his efforts to slash federal spending that he says has become wasteful. The White House said it would sharply reduce the rate at which it reimburses research institutions for 'indirect costs,' like lab space, faculty, equipment and infrastructure. After her speech at the MassBio conference, Healey told reporters Wednesday that she also worries about foreign students being afraid to study in the United States amid news of deportations. Federal immigration authorities arrested a Tufts PhD student Tuesday on a residential Somerville street, the Boston Globe reported. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national in the U.S. on a student visa, reportedly voiced support for the pro-Palestinian movement at Tufts, though she said she didn't lead the movement. Trump promised to crack down on college students who helped lead campus protests last spring about the war in Gaza. 'We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,' Trump wrote in a social media post earlier this month. 'We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.' Healey said on Wednesday that she has to learn more about the situation, and wouldn't give a comment on the specifics of Ozturk's arrest. 'What I do know is that we have hundreds of thousands of students who come from other countries to Massachusetts to study in our colleges and universities. They are undergraduates, graduate students, they are fellows and research fellows. They are postdoc students. They contribute in huge ways to our economy here, to our GDP… I'm very concerned that actions by the Trump administration to signal to students in other countries don't come to Massachusetts,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House revisiting prescription drugs, but dumping Healey tax plans
BOSTON (SHNS) – The House Democrats redrafting Gov. Maura Healey's budget won't adopt her plan to add new taxes on prescription drugs, House Speaker Ron Mariano said Wednesday, appearing to take off the table more than $200 million in proposed levies. Mariano told pharmaceutical leaders at MassBio's 'State of Possible' conference that the House would drop the idea Healey included in her $62 billion annual budget bill in January. The speaker indicated to reporters after his speech that the House would also likely not pursue Healey's idea to apply the sales tax to candy. Healey's budget sought a new tax on prescription drug manufacturers for excessive price increases. The administration estimated it could generate $60 million for the state. Her bill would also reestablish a pharmacy assessment on prescription drugs sold in Massachusetts, where pharmacies would be charged 6% per prescription or $2, whichever is less. The estimated $145 million generated from the new charge would have paid for the costly MassHealth program. 'I'm not a doctor … but I subscribe to the Hippocratic Oath. I do no harm, first. That's why in our House budget coming out, we won't include any taxes on prescription drugs in our budget. That means no arbitrary taxes tied to a drug's list price, or on our consumers filling prescriptions,' Mariano said Wednesday. Mariano told reporters after his speech that the House has looked at similar ideas in the past and decided against them, and at least once voted against an amendment to a bill that was similar to the governor's pharmacy assessment. 'It doesn't help,' he said. 'We're concerned about competitiveness and people residing and staying in Massachusetts, and adding two dollars to a prescription just based on the fact that you have to have a prescription — it was not something we wanted to do. It's the wrong message.' Asked if those concerns around competitiveness influence how he is looking at Healey's other tax proposals in the fiscal 2026 budget, Mariano responded, 'Yes, absolutely.' The speaker's declarations came midway through public hearings on the governor's budget, and weeks before a House Ways and Means Committee redraft of the bill is due to be released. The governor recommended newly applying the sales tax to candy for an estimated $20 million in revenue, applying tobacco taxes to synthetic nicotine pouches, and capping how much taxpayers could claim under a charitable deduction, which officials say is worth up to $164 million. General tax collections outside of the income tax on high earners have slowed, returning to pre-pandemic levels of growth, while spending appetites remain high — and budgetwriters are looking for creative ways to find revenue to support spending. 'The interesting thing is for some of them, we have a history, and it's not good. We've never supported, I know at least twice we've voted down the sugar tax, so you can extrapolate from that,' Mariano responded. The speaker's announcement during his speech that the House would not pursue the new taxes on prescription drugs was met with applause from the audience. Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the number-two Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed concerns about the governor's proposal this month at a budget hearing, and asked how the state could avoid the charges being 'transferred onto the consumer by Big Pharma.' Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz replied that the pharmaceutical tax on manufacturers for exceeding cost growth benchmarks would allow prescription drug prices to grow at the same rate as inflation, but not to exceed inflation. 'I think that, in itself, provides a constraint that protects consumers. Again, this is in the case where we have excess drug pricing,' he said. 'In an ideal world, there'd be no penalties and there'd be no charges.' Mariano on Wednesday also announced his chamber would revisit some House-backed initiatives that didn't make it into the pharmaceutical law lawmakers hammered out late last year. They include requiring insurance companies to count any assistance a consumer receives towards their out-of-pocket spend; making permanent the ability of consumers to use drug manufacturer coupons to pay for prescriptions; and ensuring that pharmacy benefit managers pass through at least 80% of the discounts they negotiate directly to consumers. 'We wanted to include, and we will include, we're coming back to work on this,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
12-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Spending on Massachusetts health care has grown more than twice as fast as state hoped, new report shows
Advertisement Lauren Peters, CHIA's executive director, expressed alarm about the soaring spending. With the 8.6 percent increase, health care spending in Massachusetts totaled $11,153 per resident. 'For 2023, we are seeing unsustainable cost growth trends persist, putting increasing pressure on residents, employers, and the system as a whole, emphasizing the urgent need for bold and systemic solutions,' Peters said in a statement. Peters is expected to discuss the analysis on Thursday at a meeting of the state Health Policy Commission and the Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. The report covers a variety of health care expenditures, including prescription drugs, outpatient and inpatient treatment at hospitals, and physician visits. Prescription drugs, along with new MassHealth supplemental payments, spurred the growth in spending, according to the report. Total spending on medicines increased by $1 billion, while MassHealth — the Medicaid program in Massachusetts — made $1.5 billion in new incentive payments to hospitals that met certain standards for quality and equity. Spending on prescription drugs represented the largest share of overall health care expenditures and increased by 11.6 percent over 2022, to $15.2 billion, the report stated. The next-largest category was outpatient care at hospitals, which totaled $14 billion, an increase of 8.3 percent over the previous year. Pricey blockbuster weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound are believed to have contributed to increased spending on prescription medicines. The impact will likely prove bigger when CHIA does its report for 2024, given that Advertisement While the affordability of health care overall was a pervasive issue in Massachusetts, with 41.3 percent of residents struggling to pay for treatment, the burden was greater for Hispanic residents (58.2 percent had difficulty affording it) and for non-Hispanic Black residents (48.7 percent had trouble affording it), said the report. David Seltz, executive director of the Health Policy Commission, said health care costs are 'continuing to grow at an alarming pace.' 'Again this year, pharmacy spending was a major driver of cost growth, increasing by $1 billion from the previous year,' he said in a statement. The chief executive of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which represents more than 1,700 drug and life science companies in the state, challenged the suggestion that rising drug prices were largely to blame for increased health care spending. Ozempic injection pens moved along a conveyor at the Novo Nordisk A/S production facilities in Hillerod, Denmark, in 2023. Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg 'MassBio is currently reviewing the latest cost trends report from CHIA, and we question whether the available data fully captures all factors contributing to the indicated rise in pharmacy spend,' Kendalle Burlin O'Connell, chief executive and president of MassBio, said in a statement. She said her trade group wants 'a more complete picture of the underlying causes of increased costs.' For his part, Steve Walsh, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, said the report underscores that the benchmark of 3.6 percent for growth in annual spending is unrealistic. For several years, his group has argued that it should be raised. 'Massachusetts deserves a modernized approach to the benchmark that embraces the real-time needs of today's patients and healthcare providers — one that can account for inflation, labor costs, and the state's actual gross state product,' he said in a statement. Advertisement One expert on health care policy said Massachusetts actually spent far more in 2023 than CHIA calculated. Alan Sager, a professor of health law, policy, and management at the Boston University School of Public Health, said the actual total would be 45 percent higher if CHIA included expenses that the federal government does when calculating how much each state spends. CHIA doesn't include, among other things, worksite health care, workers' compensation health spending, vocational rehab, school health, dental insurance, out-of-pocket spending for treatments not covered by insurers, and spending by several federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. If those expenditures were included, he said, health care spending in Massachusetts would have totaled $113.5 billion in 2023, or about $16,200 per person. 'We spend so much on health care,' said Sager, who sits on a council that guides CHIA's research. 'It's enough to provide the care that works for everyone who needs it. We probably waste up to half the money we spend.' Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at
