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Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Biopharma in Mass. Expanding Aided by Tax Incentive Financing

It’s not a secret to say that tax incentives play a significant role in a municipality’s ability to attract new businesses. In Massachusetts, a state with a heavy biotech presence, tax incentives have been able to help small towns compete with large biotech and pharma hubs, like Cambridge.
Three Bay State communities, Westborough, Marlborough and Hopkinton, each used Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plans to lure medtech Olympus CorporationCandela Corporation and Lykan Biosciences to the different communities, according to the Worcester Business Journal.
Westborough was able to land Olympus Corp. following a tax-increment financing deal that is estimated to save the company $774,000 in taxes, the Journal reported. The company will begin work on its new facility this summer as it looks to consolidate its offices near the Boston area, the Journal said. The Westborough site is located near major highways and a commuter train stop, which will benefit workers being shifted from Littleton and Southborough, the Journal said.

In December, Olympus won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Spiration Valve System (SVS) for the treatment of severe emphysema, a progressive form of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The SVS was granted priority review status by the FDA because it is intended to treat a life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating disease or condition and offers significant, clinically meaningful advantages over existing legally marketed alternatives, the company said.
More recently, Olympus received a national recognition of sorts after its Orbeye video microscope appeared on an episode of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” in January.
Marlborough, which is home to Boston Scientific and Sunovion, used a TIF agreement to lure Candela, a global medical aesthetic device company, from its corporate headquarters based in Maynard, Mass., the Journal said. The TIF is valued at nearly $280,000 and that is coupled with state Economic Development Incentive Program investment tax credits of $500,000, the Journalnoted. Candela, which rebranded itself in March from Syneron Candela, will move 200 employees to the new location and will also hire another 100 employees in Marlborough, the Journal said. Candela will take over 50,000 square feet of a 160,000 square-foot building formerly occupied by Verizon.
Phoenix-based Lykan Bioscience will benefit from a 10-year TIF deal as it will create a new manufacturing center in the town of Hopkinton. The company will invest $12 million in the community and hire about 125 people, the Journal said.

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