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.
