The Massachusetts Paradox
Massachusetts built the world’s biotech capital. Over 1,000 companies. 117,000 jobs. $23 billion in wages. Historic breakthroughs that cure diseases, save lives, and give patients and their families hope.
Yet, election after election, MA consistently supports policymakers who treat our greatest asset like a threat. With every short-sighted policy, they dismantle the system saving patients and sustaining our state economy.
This is the MA Paradox: the state that defines the future of medicine is now tearing it down, one policy at a time, and calling it progress.
Imagine what happens if this continues:
Labs shuttering. Researchers leaving. Patients lost to diseases that could have been cured here.
If we don’t act now to protect the world’s biotech headquarters, we risk destroying two things we can’t afford to lose: the engine of our economy and the promise of better lives for patients everywhere.
We urgently ask you to read about the MA Paradox and its origins here.
Introducing the MA‑rketing Coalition
The campaign to stop the paradox starts now.
The MA-rketing Coalition is the organized response—an NPLB-led alliance of biotech startups, established pharma, venture investors, research universities, patient advocates, and strategic communications partners who refuse to let MA self-destruct in silence.
We believe character-driven storytelling at scale can inspire change: the scientists racing against time, the entrepreneurs and investors betting everything on long-shot cures, the patients alive because MA takes risks other places won't. We work to change the narrative before we lose the industry that could save us.
Join the coalition. Protect the ecosystem. Let's make MA fall back in love with a uniquely MA industry that helps make our state amazing and all the world healthier.
We built the world’s biotech capital. Let’s not be the generation that gave it away.
This work will take all of us.
Read and sign our letter urging large biopharma to join the movement.
Brainstorm with our
Idea MA-chine
This chatbot is trained on the Massachusetts Paradox and the goals of the MA-rketing coalition. It acts as a brainstorming resource and is available for free.
Idea MA-chine Disclaimer
The Idea MA-chine chat is an alpha release experiment.
Please Note:
Educational Purposes Only: Conversations with the Inventor Lookup are intended for educational purposes. Responses are generated by an AI language model and may contain errors or inaccuracies. Do not rely solely on these responses for critical decisions or actions. All responsibility for the use of this AI rests solely with the user.
Not for Professional Use: The Inventor Lookup should not be used for investment, insurance, political, medical, legal, or any other professional purposes.
Data Review: Conversations are anonymous and may be reviewed to improve performance and guide future development.
Ongoing ‘Experiments’
Need some inspiration? Here are three current NPLB campaigns designed to shift the narrative.
This cartoon illustrates how high OOP costs are the branch blocking patients from appropriate medicines, and the fix is to build the bridge: proper insurance with low OOP costs, because that is what makes anything in healthcare affordable for patients.
This cartoon illustrates the value or mortgage payments versus rent, as an analogy for patented drugs that will eventually go generic and drop in price.
This cartoon illustrates the risk of shorter patent windows on continued biopharmaceutical innovation.
This cartoon illustrates the value produced by the small cost of supporting biopharmaceutical innovation.
This cartoon illustrates the absurdity of requiring “skin in the game” for life-saving, prescribed medications.
My doctor says I need this. I’ve been paying my premiums. I don’t understand the problem.
Over 250,000 Americans, including children, are living with muscular dystrophies, a group of genetic disorders that causes their muscles to grow weaker.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Nearly 60 million Americans, including millions of children, struggle with a mental illness.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Each year, over 80,000 American adults and children are diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Nearly 7 million Americans are living with dementia, a group of progressive brain disorders that affect memory, thinking, and the ability to do everyday things.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
More than 1 million Americans are blind, and more than 12 million Americans are losing their vision.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 65,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Nearly 1.5 million older Americans have lost or are losing their vision from wet age-related macular degeneration, also known as wet AMD.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 50,000 Americans, including children, live with some form of myositis.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 60,000 Americans, including many children, are diagnosed each year with leukemia.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 3 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy, a neurological disease that causes recurring seizures.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 600,000 Americans suffer from autoimmune nephropathy, which occurs when your immune system attacks your kidneys.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Each year, over 230,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer, the second most common cancer in the United States and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Tens of millions of Americans are living with liver disease, which can be caused by heavy alcohol use, a viral infection, a genetic disorder, or problems with a person's metabolism.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 8 million Americans live with neurodegenerative diseases, a group of conditions where the brain and nervous system deteriorate over time.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 120 million Americans live with heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 100,000 Americans suffer from scleroderma, a disease that causes the immune system to attack the body.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 60,000 women in the United States are diagnosed each year with endometrial cancer, one of the few cancers still with rising mortality rates.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 3.8 million Americans, mostly women, but also some men are living with breast cancer. Even with available treatments, more than 40,000 women die each year in America, making it the second deadliest cancer.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colon cancer every year, making it one of the most common cancers. And it kills over 50,000 Americans each year, making it one of the deadliest.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Nearly one in eight men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Every year, almost 300,000 discover that they have prostate cancer and over 30,000 die from it, making it one of the most survivable cancers and also the second highest cause of cancer death among men.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 30,000 Americans are living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 2 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year.
Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
Over 1.5 million Americans are living with blood cancers—leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma. Behind every statistic is a person fighting for more time, and behind them is a team of scientists, investors, and patient advocates working toward a cure.
More than 1.5 million Americans live with lupus. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to better treat—and even cure—this disease.
More than 1 million Americans live with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful autoimmune disease that can damage joints, skin, eyes, lungs, and more. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to better treat—and even cure—this disease.
About 40,000 children and adults in the US and approximately a hundred thousand people worldwide live with cystic fibrosis or CF. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to better treat—and even cure—this disease.
About 20,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to better treat—and even cure—this disease.
Over 3 million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer each year. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to better treat—and even cure—this disease.
Nearly a million Americans are living with multiple sclerosis. Meet some of the biotech innovators working to develop new medicines to restore health and happiness to these patients and their families.
VIDEO
Why does MA’s leading biotech industry not have the support of many of our politicians?
We’re building support across the biotech ecosystem
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