Cambridge, MA – Bio-Pact, LLC, has announced that the company is moving its corporate headquarters to Massachusetts, which will be located at 245 First Street in Cambridge. Governor Deval Patrick met with Bio-Pact at the BIO Convention in San Diego last June to share the incredible strengths of Massachusetts as the world’s leading life sciences ecosystem.
Since Bio-Pact arrived on the life sciences scene just eight months ago, the U.S.-based company has accelerated development of its breakthrough carbon nanotube-derivative platform beyond expectations by leveraging key scientific, academic, government, and industry relationships in the Massachusetts life sciences cluster. After just a few months of utilizing resources in the commonwealth to further develop its broad drug delivery, device, and diagnostics enabling platform, it became clear that Massachusetts is where they wanted to be.
“Massachusetts leads the world in life sciences thanks to our growth strategy of investing in education, innovation, and infrastructure,” said Governor Patrick. “I was pleased to meet with Bio-Pact at the Bio Convention last June and we look forward to working with them as they establish their operations in Massachusetts and create jobs and opportunities across the state.”
Bio-Pact manufactures and sells to medical researchers in academia, government, and industry a product branded as MGMR, which stands for Medical Grade Molecular Rebar. MGMR is discrete (individual, untangled), clean, open-ended, surface-functionalized, evenly dispersed, length-controlled medical-grade carbon nanotubes (CNT). The CNT batches are consistent, a major help for researchers who have come to expect unruly and inconsistent CNT batches which make it very difficult to replicate and scale positive results achieved with CNTs in the lab.
Supply of these next-gen CNTs is not a problem as Bio-Pact’s manufacturing facilities have capacity to manufacture MGMR on the metric ton scale. The primary manufacturing plants are currently in Austin, Texas with a secondary manufacturing process to custom functionalize the CNTs according to customer or partner needs taking place in a facility located in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“We are excited to welcome Bio-Pact’s headquarters to the Massachusetts Life Sciences community, and we are grateful to Governor Patrick for the central role that he played in attracting this innovative company here,” said Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “Bio-Pact’s expanded presence in Massachusetts, and the carbon nanotube products that they provide to the research community, will strengthen our life sciences ecosystem, and we look forward to partnering with this company as it thrives and grows.”
Bio-Pact’s primary strategy is to provide MGMR research kits to researchers in any medical field under a simple R&D license that will allow researchers to experiment with and develop MGMR in the lab. Each kit will be backed by robust scientific customer support to ensure researchers understand that the CNT rules have changed and how to operate under the new rules to achieve successful results that can be taken to market. When a customer wants to commercialize a product containing MGMR developed in the lab, a commercial license is negotiated.
“We are thrilled for Bio-Pact, a valued MassBio member, as the team takes this exciting step and makes Massachusetts their home,” said Robert K. Coughlin, president and CEO of MassBio. “We know Bio-Pact will grow and thrive in the Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem, and we thank Governor Patrick for his commitment — now and throughout his time as Governor — to making Massachusetts the best place in the world for life sciences.”
In addition to its R&D model, Bio-Pact also pursues in-house development projects in areas such as transdermal and targeted drug delivery, and wound care. These projects are currently in the preclinical stage, and Bio-Pact is looking for the right partners to codevelop and commercialize applications in these fields.
“We are delighted to be in Massachusetts and to bring our long-awaited carbon nanotube breakthrough to the vibrant life sciences community that exists here,” said Kent Phelps, CEO and cofounder of Bio-Pact. “The MGMR opportunity is gigantic, and Massachusetts represents a thriving life sciences ecosystem to match the scope of our very broad platform. We have no doubt that our relocation to Massachusetts will accelerate our innovative company’s growth and success.”
