One plank of Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2006 campaign was his support of the life science industry in Massachusetts. It seems that in his bid for re-election in the looming 2010 race he’s looking to cast himself as the life science governor once again.
Patrick met March 31 with a delegation of about 14 representatives from the Bay State’s medical device industry, including representatives from some of the area’s largest med-tech firms. The meeting revolved around concerns about how a 2.3 percent medical device excise tax on the industry, contained in the healthcare reform act, could affect one of the state’s most important business clusters.
Earlier today, Mass. Medical Device Industry Council president Tom Sommer told a group of members gathered in Waltham for an update on the Food & Drug Administration’s 510(k) program that the meeting with the governor was cordial and mostly positive.
“We suggested that while we knew the state was in bad condition, it might be helpful to consider softening the blow [to device makers],” Sommer told MassDevice. “We’re hopeful and we’ll continue to press him.”
Thomas Taylor, president of Roush Life Sciences in Salem, N.H., and the current board president of MassMEDIC, was also present at the meeting. Roush told us that the council is ginning up some proposals for the governor on how the Commonwealth could help offset the device tax, including ideas for incentives that could help companies make up any shortfalls created by the new tax, which goes into effect in 2013.
“We need to make this a positive for Massachusetts by working with the state to implement something like an R&D credit or other offsetting tax credits that could actually lure companies to the Commonwealth,” he said. “Let’s take the negative and turn it into a competitive advantage.”
Taylor praised the governor for sitting down with the group and said he was hopeful some progress would be made.
The Statehouse meeting included executives from local industry giants Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN), Zoll Medical Corp. (NYSE:ZOLL), Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX); smaller companies like NuOrtho Surgical Inc., an orthopedic implant company out of Fall River, Mass.; and Susan Windham-Bannister of the Mass. Life Sciences Center.
Frank Reynolds, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based InVivo Therapeutics, a company developing a treatment for spinal cord injuries, was also present, according to a press release put out by the company.
Reynolds lambasted the device tax in prepared remarks.
“The idea that providing insurance coverage to the uninsured will increase the number of medical devices sold is incongruent with reality,” Reynolds said. “People will not experience more spinal cord injuries, torn ACLs, or heart attacks just because people have insurance coverage.”
