Sector
Vital But Needs to Gear for Uncertainty
From
the desk of Paul Pescatello, President and CEO of CURE
 It
was great to see such a turnout for the CURE theater evening
Jan 30. We enjoyed an outstanding performance by Anna
Deveare Smith of her new piece about the human body
“Let Me Down Easy,” in which she portrayed dozens of
people, including Yale School of Medicine faculty. And we
had the chance to mix and mingle, with the New Haven arts as
well as the bioscience community, at the cocktails and
dinner prior to the performance.
The evening was also an
informal launch for Developing World Cures, the new CURE
subsidiary that will seek donations of compounds and
intellectual property from pharmaceutical companies and
research universities, in order to develop them into
medicines for neglected diseases of the developing world.
Denice Spero, the president, and Peter Farina, the CEO of
the new company, were both on hand for the networking and
theater evening.
Earlier in the week, the
Hartford Courant ran a story
on Developing World Cures
that was picked
up by the AP.
As I pointed out there, fund-raising is just beginning for
this project, and it will take some time before development
of medicines for neglected diseases is in full swing. But
meanwhile it is one more sign, like Connecticut’s recent
support of stem cell research, of the vitality and
commitment of our state’s bioscience industry. Developing
World Cures is poised to tap into the research excellence
all around us, and at the same time it represents one more
reason why top-notch researchers, and their working spouses,
will want to come to Connecticut.
Needless to say, keeping
Connecticut attractive for bioscience remains CURE’s key
priority as we enter a new legislative season. This session
is a short one, from February to May. In theory, with the
biennial budget off the table this year, lawmakers will have
more time to focus on policy considerations, especially in
such important areas as transportation and health care. But
as the economy slows and state revenues dwindle, there will
be new pressures on Connecticut bioscience R&D. All of
us must remain vigilant.
We must also find ways to
continue to attract new investment during a time of economic
uncertainty. One initiative that CURE is backing is the
extension of the tax benefits now afforded to C corporations
to LLPs and LLCs as well. Since many venture capitalists and
angel investors prefer the latter forms of organization
(because they pass through taxation, and hence tax credits,
to the individuals behind a company), this measure would be
a simple and elegant method of attracting more venture
capitalists and angel investors to the state.
Paul R. Pescatello is President and CEO of CURE.
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