By Gus G. Sentementes , gus.sentementes@baltsun.com|June 27, 2009
Maryland start-up biotechnology companies began lining up Friday morning for a chance to apply for the state's generous, but limited, tax credit for luring investors to the industry - five days before the program can officially accept applications.
As of 4:30 p.m., representatives from 11 companies had written their names on a whiteboard in a conference room at the University of Maryland's BioPark in Baltimore. The state will officially accept applications July 1 for the Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit - which allows for a 50 percent tax break, up to $250,000, per investor in a company.
Last year, company executives started lining up outside the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development's office a day before the July 1 opening. But with a tough investment climate for start-ups and the recognition that there was a pool of $6 million in credits available, none of the companies that lined up yesterday said they wanted to risk missing the chance to get access to the tax credit for their investors.
"It's a phenomenal program for early-stage companies," said Steven W. Davey, chief operating officer of Zymetis, a College Park-based company that's working on next-generation biofuels. Giving a company's investors access to the tax credit, which the state has offered since 2006, "makes it so much easier to sell an idea," said Davey, who was second in line.
According to the state legislation that enacted the tax credits, they must be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, and a single company can not claim more than 15 percent of the money allotted by the state.
Last year was the first time that company officials camped out overnight to hold their place in line. A total of 14 companies waited in line last year outside DBED's old offices on Redwood Street in downtown Baltimore.
This year, DBED officials couldn't allow a line to form outside the building at their new offices at the World Trade Center at the Inner Harbor because of security concerns, according to the agency's secretary, Christian S. Johansson. So the agency turned to officials at the University of Maryland's BioPark, who offered to host the wait.
Officials with the state and the BioPark, however, weren't expecting companies to line up Friday. "I was a little surprised," said James Hughes, president of the BioPark and a vice president for research and development at the university. "We thought people would show up the day before."
