Obama
Victory Bolsters Stem Cell Initiative as 2009 Legislative
Session Looms
From
the desk of Paul Pescatello, President and CEO of CURE
 The
focus of the 2009 Connecticut legislative session will be
the budget. The January to June session will be
difficult and contentious as lawmakers contend with a $300
million deficit in the context of a deteriorating state and
national economy.
As lawmakers seek to bolster revenues, policies such as
Connecticut's unique research and development tax incentives
may come under attack, even though they have been
instrumental in attracting new investment and new
talent to the state.
We
will be diligent in making the case for Connecticut
biopharma economic development. For example, we will remind officials that of the $414 million venture capitalists have invested in Connecticut during the past eight
quarters (according to the
MoneyTree™ report from PricewaterhouseCoopers), over $269 million was invested in Connecticut life science companies.
(See story in this issue.) Indeed, the largest single venture capital investment in Connecticut in the third quarter of 2008 went to Shelton-based biotech Cara Therapeutics, lured here from New York State by the attractive business conditions Connecticut offered.
The investment Connecticut has make in the life science
sector has positioned the state well and we will benefit
from this investment in the future. A case study is
the state's early initiative in funding stem cell research.
The Obama victory will undoubtedly mean a renaissance in
federal support for stem cell research. But in the
current economy, budgets will be extremely tight. The
scarce federal dollars available for stem cell research are
likely to be directed to programs already established and
making progress, such as those created and ongoing at UConn,
Yale, and Wesleyan, each made possible by Connecticut's
historic funding initiative.
In short, the state was wise to support stem cell research just as it has been wise to support the life science generally. In these difficult times, the task for Connecticut is to build on what we have already established, not turn our backs on programs that have proved their value.
Paul R. Pescatello is President and CEO of CURE.
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