Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 23, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 35 Proud supporters of Amy's first steps Industrial Continued on page 36 passed the House of Representatives in September. Construction resumed sometime around the be- ginning of December, as the legislation has since been languishing in the Senate, where it faces an increasingly dismissing chance of passage before the end of the session. First expected to become operational in 2022, WuXi's latest update on the facility indicated the company plans for it to come online in 2025. The silver lining Despite all not going exactly as planned with projects like e Reactory, the region is well-positioned to ben- efit from the recovery of the life science sector, said Jon Weaver, president and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedi- cal Initiatives in Worcester. e longest-running life sciences incubator in Mas- sachusetts, Weaver said MBI continues to be impressed by the resilience of the market for startups in Central Massa- chusetts, with its available space still being a hot commodity. e nonprofit's Pilot Biomanufactur- ing Center opened in October 2023 and is 90% full. ere's been a slight slowdown in demand for early-stage space, but that might actually be a good thing for MBI, said Weaver. "We were in a place where we were filling [early-stage] labs aer 14 days," he said. "One company would move out, and then the next company would move in two weeks later. It was red hot. Now it's normalized to somewhere around 60 to 90 days, which is probably a healthier place to be." Over the long term, Central Massachusetts still offers life science firms with the access to future employees from the region's many higher education institutions and cheaper costs than those seen closer to Boston. e region has 10 municipalities, including Worcester, which have been given a platinum rating from the Mas- sachusetts Biotechnology Council, indicating a large amount of shovel-ready sites and active efforts by local regulators to woo biotech uses. One of these platinum municipalities is Fram- ingham, which in July successfully convinced Cam- bridge-based KalVista Pharmaceuticals to move into a space at 200 Crossing Blvd., which is three times as large as its former headquarters. Another platinum-ranked community is Marlbor- ough, which has largely weathered current market con- ditions well, said Meredith Harris, executive director of the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. e former bedroom community has had success in attracting and retaining life science firms, from massive figures in the sector like Moderna and Sartorius to first- stage newcomers like LoopCO2, a company seeking to turn carbon dioxide emissions into a number of eco-conscious products. e company from MBI's incubator moved to Marlborough in August. A lot of that success comes down to being a welcoming municipality able to supply the basics, said Harris. "A lot of it has to do with access to, you know, the unfun stuff, but water, sewer, that type of infrastructure is really important for those companies; and we have that," she said. "Marlborough is a business-friendly community. We are able to go out and talk to the companies and offer incentives and try to work with them to get things like expedited permitting, or answers to ques- tions that they might have at a state level." In late November, Sartorius opened a $90-million, 63,000-square-foot Center for BioProcess Innovation in Marlborough. e center aims to provide space for customer demonstrations and training with the goal of increasing collaboration with customers and other external partners, a fact which could draw even more life science attention to Marlborough. Harris said the success of larger firms in the city has helped encourage startups like LoopCO2 to locate there. Smaller firms "want to be near those larger com- panies that are making the larger investments," she said. "Obviously, if Boston Scientific or Moderna can find the workforce and find the talent that they need, I think that gives confidence to the smaller companies that they'll be able to survive here." Worcester versus the world Looking through the long-term lens, it's hard to imagine global demand for life science services will diminish anytime soon. Fears of the next pandemic, from the lingering threat of bird flu to the mysterious Disease X outbreak in Central Africa, serve as remind- ers for the need for the life science industry to have the capacity to respond quickly to new health hazards. ere's some indication venture capital is returning, as the industry saw a nearly 30% increase in funding in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to a report from Washington D.C.- Jon Weaver, CEO & president of Massa- chusetts Biomedical Initiatives Meredith Harris, executive director of Marlborough Eco- nomic Development Corp. Boston-based King Street Properties has filled some of the buildings in its Pathway Devens Biomanufacturing Campus (illustrated in the rendering above), but more than 200,000 square feet remains unleased. RENDERING | KING STREET PROPERTIES

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