County, Business Execs, Tout Biotech Tax Credit

A county and state tax credit program leveraged nearly $6 million in investments last year in 10 biotechnology companies in Gaithersburg, Potomac and Rockville, officials said Monday.

Elected officials, including Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), Sen. Jennie M. Forehand and Del. Brian J. Feldman joined biotech company executives and representatives of the county’s Department of Economic Development to tout the program at Sequella, Inc. in Rockville.

“It’s very fulfilling to see the benefits to both our local biotech companies and the savvy investors who took advantage of Montgomery County’s biotech investment tax credit program—the first such program at the local level in the country,” Leggett said in a news release.

Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville and Feldman (D-Dist. 15) of Potomac have pushed for the tax credits at the state level.

The County Council approved $500,000 in credits in fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 for the county program, which piggybacks on the state credit program.

The county program gives supplemental payments to investors receiving credits under Maryland’s Biotech Investment Tax Credit Program based on their investments in local biotech companies.

The state program provides income tax credits for investors providing from $25,000 to $250,000 in seed money or early stage funding to Maryland biotechnology companies. The credits equal up to 50 percent of an investment.

Maryland lawmakers set aside $8 million for the state credit in fiscal 2012. The Tech Council of Maryland is pushing the General Assembly to increase the credit to $12 million in the state budget for fiscal 2013, which begins July 1, The Gazette reported.

The state and county credit “gives local biotech companies like Sequella a huge leg up on other biotechs around the nation,” Marty Zug, chief financial officer of Sequella, said in the release. “Other jurisdictions just don’t have this great incentive, and it has clearly made a difference for us. One of my current investors was so thrilled to receive his County rebate so quickly, he’s already made another investment in our company.”

Sequella researches and develops treatments for infectious diseases for licensing on the commercial market.

The company used $2.4 million raised last year through the tax credit program to finance a Phase II trial on H. pylori, a bacterium that causes ulcers, Zug told ABC7.

Leggett touted the “diverse group of biotech companies that are already putting these new investments to work to fight disease and improve the health of our nation.

“The fact that these companies can also leverage these investments to spur additional investments makes this a true model of success,” he said.

The following companies received investments:

• 20/20 GeneSystems, Rockville
• Alper Biotech, Rockville
• Beta Cat Pharmaceuticals, Gaithersburg
• Clarassance, Rockville
• Creative MicroTech , Potomac
• Neoginix Oncology, Rockville
• Otraces, Rockville
• Rafagen, Rockville
• Sequella, Rockville
• Synergy America, Gaithersburg

For more information on the state’s Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit. click here.

For more information on other tax credits offered by the county and state click here.