Introduction

In Massachusetts, significant health care affordability challenges persist. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (“MLSC”), in collaboration with the Division of Insurance (“DOI”) and the Executive Office of Economic Development (“EOED”), is issuing this Request for Information (the “RFI”) from stakeholders regarding innovative approaches to managing high-risk claimants within the Commonwealth’s unique merged health insurance market. The objective is to explore models that facilitate early intervention and high-quality care for high-risk individuals while achieving premium reductions for the broader merged market risk pool.

Background

The MLSC is committed to enhancing health equity across Massachusetts and increasing visibility of the ecosystem, including providers, payers, patients, innovators, and other industry and actuarial stakeholders who may support and advance our mission to close the health care divide. There is a unique opportunity to leverage the state’s health care and life sciences ecosystems with the Life Sciences 3.0 initiative that was passed with the Mass Leads Act. 

As part of its efforts, MLSC is issuing this RFI to receive feedback and insight from market participants and any other interested parties focused on promoting important health care equity and inclusion principles. Specifically, MLSC is soliciting ideas that principally drive at furthering equitable, accessible, and affordable health care and health care coverage. 

Interested Respondents may currently operate in Massachusetts but are not required to operate exclusively in Massachusetts. Interested Respondents are encouraged to collaborate in preparing a response to the RFI, and the MLSC welcomes combined submissions from multiple stakeholders. 

The objective is to improve healthcare outcomes and cost efficiencies by exploring the creation of a high-risk claimant management mechanism that supports sustainable models of care within the Commonwealth’s merged market. Key principles underlying a potential mechanism include ensuring early intervention and access to emerging technologies and therapies for high-risk enrollees, as well as promoting high-quality care investments over time. 

This RFI is not a mechanism to pre-qualify any individual or organization for future funding from MLSC. RFI feedback may help shape possible future program initiatives at the MLSC or policy ideas within the Commonwealth.

Objectives

Driven by the foundational principles of health care affordability and equity, the primary goals of this RFI are to:

Evaluate high-risk claimant management mechanisms (e.g., reinsurance, risk-pooling) suitable for the Massachusetts merged market, including, e.g., exploring potential long-term funding mechanisms that ensure high-quality patient care and meaningful premium relief for the remainder of the merged market.

Identify innovative models for the reimbursement and funding of early intervention and care management for high-risk claimants.

Assess potential cost savings for the remaining patients within the merged market risk pool upon separating out and reinsuring high-risk claimants.

Understand barriers to implementation and necessary changes to address them.

Program Overview

The Frontiers Fund is part of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s (MLSC) commitment to scientific inclusivity and health equity. This program supports early-stage, high-risk translational research in historically underfunded and understudied areas of the life sciences. It is designed to de-risk innovation and catalyze long-term impact in fields with high unmet medical and societal needs.

The Frontiers Fund provides phased, milestone-based awards to Massachusetts-based nonprofit institutions conducting translational research aligned with critical focus areas, such as antibiotic resistance, microbiome science, rare diseases, mental health, non-opioid pain therapeutics, health equity-driven solutions, and medical devices.

The program encourages collaborative proposals—particularly those that build bridges between academic institutions and industry—and seeks projects with strong potential for real-world impact and patient benefit.

Capital and General funding is available over three distinct phases:

 Phase I: Feasibility & early data – up to $100,000 in Capital funds and up to $100,000 in General funds (1 year)

 Phase II: Translational validation – up to $400,000 in Capital funds and up to $200,000 in General funds (2 years)

 Phase III: Partnership readiness – up to $250,000 in Capital funds and up to $100,000 in General funds (1 year)
 

The application period will run from August 4 – November 21, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Please view the full program details, including eligibility requirements, evaluation criteria, and available resources.

Connect with us to learn more

If you have questions regarding the application process, e-mail mlscindustryprograms@masslifesciences.com

Program Overview

The design of the Research Equipment program is to provide grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development in the Commonwealth.

Capital dollars are available to support research equipment up to $500,000 across the state for not-for-profit organizations. Applicants will have to demonstrate how the requested piece(s) of equipment will benefit the entire life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts.

The application period will run from August 4 – November 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.

Please view the full list of eligibility requirements and evaluation process.

Connect with Us to Learn More

If you have any questions regarding the application process, e-mail: ResearchInfrastructure@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The life science ecosystem thrives on access to patient samples and data for breakthrough, patient-centric research. Yet, many researchers face significant barriers, including institutional restrictions and inconsistent protocols. The MLSC Biobank Program is designed to break these barriers by establishing disease-specific, accessible biobanks sourced from diverse patient populations across Massachusetts.

By tackling patient sample and data access challenges, this initiative empowers startups, mid-sized companies, pharmaceutical firms, and translational researchers to drive innovation in diagnostic and therapeutic development.

Based on the ecosystem-wide Phase 1 survey, we have identified colorectal cancer and Alzheimer’s disease as the disease areas of focus for the first round. Partnering with institutions statewide, the goal is to create a broadly usable biobank that benefits both non-profit and for-profit institutions seeking high-quality patient samples and data.

Key Focus Areas:

• Standardized patient sample collection, storage, and analysis
• Accessible biospecimens (biopsy, blood, saliva, urine, tissue, etc.) 
• Improved data-sharing frameworks to foster cross-institutional collaboration
• Development of patient avatars and experimental models to enhance drug discovery
• Equitable inclusion of diverse patient populations to improve health outcomes with all patients in mind
• Longitudinal sample collection and data generation

Disease Areas for 2025-2026:

• Colorectal Cancer 
• Alzheimer’s Disease 

The MLSC completed Phase 1 of gathering insights from startups and translational researchers to determine the first-year disease area of focus. In Phase 2, we are seeking proposals for the following section of the MLSC Biobank program:

Sample Collection and Medical Data Consolidation:

We invite academic medical centers (AMCs) and other non-profit patient care centers in Massachusetts to serve as centers for sample and medical data collection for Colorectal Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Program Overview

The MLSC is particularly seeking to enhance and/or expand training programs that address critical skills and talent supply gaps facing the sate’s life science industry. Such programs include those focused on Biomanufacturing, MedTech, Advanced Manufacturing, and other key careers in the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts. Applicants must have at-least one industry partnership that ensures that the program is responding to a direct hiring need.

Furthermore, the MLSC is committed to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the life sciences workforce and will prioritize investments in programs that serve underrepresented populations.

Program Eligibility

Applicants must be a Massachusetts legally organized:

• Life Science company (“Company”) located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• and regisered to do business in Massachusetts. A Certifcate of Good Standing from
• the Massachusetts Secretary of State and Certifcate of Good Standing from the
• Massachusetts Department of Revenue are required for the submission
• Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), including CBOs relying on a fscal agent
• Community Colleges, Colleges, and Universities
• Comprehensive and Vocational High Schools, including Vocational Schools ofering an
• after-hours or Career Technical Initiative evening training program
• For-Profit Entities
• Non-Profit Entities
• Municipalities
• Workforce Development Organizations
• MassHire Workforce Investment Boards and Career Centers

Please review detailed program eligibility and application evaluation process here: Eligibility and Evaluation Process

If you have any questions regarding the application process, Email: Pathmaker@masslifesciences.com 

Program Overview

The MLSC launched Bits to Bytes to provide grants for scientific projects that generate and analyze large datasets to answer pressing life science questions, and to attract and train data scientists in the Commonwealth.

As the leading life sciences ecosystem, Massachusetts recognizes that the role of data sciences in life science innovation has rapidly evolved and has the potential to catalyze that innovation at unprecedented rates. Investment in generating well-annotated datasets and training data scientists for life science research is required to sustain Massachusetts’s global leadership position in life science research and development.

The application period will run from August 4, 2025 – November 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.

Please view the the full list of eligibility requirements and evaluation process.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have any questions regarding the application process, e-mail: BitsToBytes@Masslifesciences.com

Program Overview

The Novel Therapeutics Delivery program fosters the development of novel technologies and techniques for the delivery of existing or innovative therapies by working at the intersection of engineering, biology, chemistry, and medicine. Specifically, it strives to capitalize and incentivize translational projects to address complex challenges in “therapeutic” delivery – from biomanufacturing, to targeted delivery, to biomaterials and more.

Up to $5 million capital dollars are available for the current program round, with each award anticipated to be up to $750,000 to support equipment and other capital expenses at not-for-profit partners.

The application period will run from Aug. 4 – Nov. 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.

Please view the full list of eligibility requirements and evaluation process.

Connect with Us to Learn More

If you have any questions regarding the application process, e-mail: DrugDelivery@Masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The design of the Research Infrastructure program (formerly known as the Open or Competitive Capital Program) is to provide grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development in the Commonwealth.

Up to $10 million in capital dollars is available to support capital projects ranging from $1.5 – $5 million across the state for not-for-profit partners. Applicants will have to demonstrate how the requested infrastructure will benefit the entire life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts.

The application period will run from August 4 – November 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.

Please view the full list of eligibility requirements and evaluation process.

Connect with Us to Learn More

If you have any questions regarding the application process, e-mail: ResearchInfrastructure@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The Women’s Health Collaboration Program is part of the MLSC’s Women’s Health Initiative. This program supports collaborative projects that aim to improve the discovery, technical innovation, and/or analysis of datasets to answer pressing life science questions around women’s health. It incentivizes translational projects that develop novel solutions to treat conditions that solely or disproportionately affect women or have a different presentation between genders.

Up to $5 million capital dollars are available for the current program round. Each award anticipated to be approximately $750,000 to support data generation and equipment at not-for-profit partners

The application period will run from Aug. 4 – Nov. 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.

Please view the details of the program including full list of eligibility requirements, resources available and evaluation process

Connect with us to learn more

If you have questions regarding the application process, e-mail WomensHealth@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The MLSC Women’s Health Initiative is a bold funding program launched in 2019 designed to close critical gaps in scientific understanding and clinical care for the most pressing and under-researched conditions that affect women solely, disproportionately, or differently. Despite their impact on millions of lives, many of these conditions remain underfunded and poorly understood. This initiative seeks to change that.
 

Awards will support collaborative Massachusetts-based women's health research across this round's disease areas that fall into at least one of the above pillars. Through a rotating focus on specific disease areas, the initiative ensures that a broad spectrum of women’s health topics is addressed over time. For the current cycle, the spotlight is on Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension and Perimenopause/Menopause, two prevalent but neglected areas in biomedical research. 

At the heart of the program is a pillar-based research model designed to foster innovation through collaboration. Each disease focus area is explored across four integrated pillars ensuring a comprehensive, translational approach: 

• AI & Data Science: Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, predictive modeling, and big data to identify patterns, improve diagnosis, and uncover new research questions. 
• Disease Biology: Investigating the fundamental mechanisms of disease, including hormonal, genetic, and molecular drivers, to build a foundation for targeted therapies. 
• R&D: Advancing preclinical and translational research aimed at developing novel diagnostics, interventions, and therapeutic strategies. 
• Clinical Adoption: Bridging research and practice by identifying pathways to integrate discoveries into clinical settings and improve patient outcomes. 

Individual awards of approximately $500k per project that are approximately two years in length. Approximately $3 million in capital funding is available for each disease focus area (up to $6 million in total funding).

The application period will run from August 4 – November 21, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST.
 

Please view the details of the program including full list of eligibility requirements, resources available and evaluation process
 

Connect with us to learn more

If you have questions regarding the application process, e-mail WomensHealth@masslifesciences.com with Women's Health Initiative in the subject line.