The Kentucky Life Sciences Council (KLSC) and MassBio have launched the Kentucky – Massachusetts Turnpike, a partnership designed to foster collaboration between the two clusters and accelerate research to benefit patients and the healthcare system.
The Turnpike is an extension of MassBio’s MassCONNECT program, which under the leadership of Rakhshita Dhar and Anna Christo, has become a top mentoring program for life science entrepreneurs in Massachusetts.
“We are proud to stand with our colleagues in Kentucky in explicit recognition that there are no knowledge monopolies and that innovation goes beyond borders,” said John Hallinan, MassBio Chief Business Officer, Turnpike co-founder and MassCONNECT mentor, said. “The complexity of human biology and unmet medical need demands that we embrace collaboration as a way to find and catalyze critical research and development, and we hope this partnership can help to usher in a new model of collaboration in life sciences. We are heartened by the response as a significant number of MassCONNECT mentors and Massachusetts executives have signed on to help with the construction of the Turnpike.”
Kentucky life sciences leaders traveled to Cambridge for MassBio’s Annual Meeting last month. Pictured here: Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO, MassBio; Kyle Keeney, President & CEO, Kentucky Life Sciences Council; Kris Kimel, founder & CEO, Kentucky Space; Twyman Clements, President, Space Tango; John Hallinan, Chief Business Office, MassBio.
“As a parent of a child with cystic fibrosis, and speaking on behalf of all patients, we don’t care where a therapy or cure comes from,” said Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio. “We are especially intrigued by the potential of combining a good idea in Kentucky with a good idea in Massachusetts to create a great idea that provides value to patients, the healthcare system, and our respective clusters.”
According to Kyle Keeney, Turnpike co-founder and President/CEO of Kentucky Life Sciences Council, “In our partnership model, Massachusetts provides leadership in many ways, but we have to pay attention to the importance of the honeybees. Our model will help to ensure a health supply of pollinators and it mitigates the risk of the Midwest and the Central US being relegated to a fly-over zone for life sciences research.”
Known for its biologics industry, Kentucky is ideally situated to connect the needs of biotech’s competing powers through a unifying need: access and distribution to patients. Geographically, Kentucky is the center of the US transportation and logistics industries and is the central hub for taking products to the marketplace.
OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTNER
Researchers interested in the Turnpike Partnership are invited to attend the Derby Partnering Summit. Held May 5-7, 2016 in Covington, the Derby Partnering Summit addresses the interests of academic and private researchers, entrepreneurs and industry executives. The event begins with a day for postdocs and emerging entrepreneurs to receive one-on-one mentoring with industry veterans. The second day is focused on industry and regulatory updates. True to the Summit’s banner slogan to “partner with a champion,” the Summit culminates trackside at the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby.
From KLSC
