MassDevelopment provided equipment loans to two life science companies that grew from the Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives incubators in Worcester, Mass. Blue Sky Biotech, a contract manufacturer of proteins and other biological products for pharmaceutical companies, received a $300,000 equipment loan to buy new laboratory equipment for its new 50 Prescott Street space. In addition, MassDevelopment also provided a $150,000 loan for lab equipment to Nemucore Medical Innovations, Inc., a life science company developing nanomedicines to treat ovarian cancer.

“MassDevelopment’s support of burgeoning life sciences companies in Worcester helps them get access to the tools they need to cure diseases and to allow people to live better lives,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “We look forward to watching Blue Sky Biotech and Nemucore continue their important work in these areas.”

“MBI values our collaborative partnership with MassDevelopment and its support of the incubator laboratories we have developed here in Worcester to foster the life sciences and biotechnology industries in Central Massachusetts,” said Kevin O’Sullivan, President and CEO, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. “We also very much appreciate its financial support of Blue Sky Biotech and Nemucore, two of our success stories, in helping them to grow their business and add jobs in Worcester.”

Blue Sky Biotech, a previous MassDevelopment customer, recently moved into its newer and larger labs and offices at 50 Prescott Street, construction of which MassDevelopment helped finance through a Recovery Zone Facility Bond in 2010. Blue Sky Biotech plans to expand to include assay services, analytic procedures in laboratory medicine, to complement its customer offerings.

“We’re proud to be partners in the Massachusetts biotech community,” said Blue Sky Founder and CEO Paul Wengender. “The strength of the partnership and support of MassDevelopment and MBI has played an important role in our evolution toward industry leadership.”

Nemucore leased 22,000 square feet of the facility at 55 Union Street that was left vacant in 2007 when the previous tenant moved operations out of Worcester. Nemucore, along with MBI, has been redeveloping the building since 2010. Celebrating its sixth year of operations this past February, Nemucore is developing NMI-300 and NMI-500 proprietary nanomedicines to combat multidrug resistant ovarian cancer, a lethal cancer that has not had a therapeutic breakthrough since the early 1990s.

“MassDevelopment’s support has given us capacity to buy new equipment and advance our proprietary nanomedicines NMI-300 and NMI-500 on a path towards curbing the lethal effects of multidrug resistant ovarian cancer,” said Tim Coleman, CEO and Founder of Nemucore Medical Innovations Inc. “MassDevelopment has not only been instrumental in facilitating Nemucore’s success, but has also been a crucial support vein for the Worcester biopharmaceutical environment as a whole, significantly helping the city move towards job creation, economic growth, and the formation of a very vibrant life sciences ecosystem.”