Boston Biomedical Research Institute – Possible Closure Amid Financial Strains
The Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown has scheduled a pivotal vote this week on whether to shutter its operations for good. According to the Boston Globe, Wednesday’s vote comes amid continued financial pressure at the local life sciences research organization. The institute has been open for nearly five decades. “We’ve been crunched,” Charles Emerson, a senior scientist and director of the institute, told the Globe. “Our main business plan is NIH funding and we tried. . . . On the overall picture, it’s not been very successful in the last two years with grants.” According to Boston Business Journal research, the institute collected around $7.5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. The funding supported a range of projects, from research on biomarkers to analysis of therapies for inner-ear maladies.
Update 2021: In the time since this was first written, Boston Biomedical Research Institute has now become Avania, “an integrated, global, full-service CRO with specialized clinical research expertise in medical device, technology, and combination products. Avania offers a full range of services, including regulatory, strategic consulting, clinical trial execution, reimbursement, and analytical services.”
