Green cards | Tower on hold | The next big thing in biotech
Boston Business Journal
The Boston region's source for local business news & events. Part of the American City Business Journals network.
Welcome to the BBJ's LinkedIn Weekly Edition! This is Digital Editor Jess Aloe bringing you the week's biggest business news.
Immigration promise
One of the immigration proposals being discussed ahead of the upcoming presidential election could have an enormous impact on the Boston innovation and education ecosystem, say academic leaders and venture capitalists — and it's coming from Donald Trump.
To attract and retain talent, the former president wants to give “green cards” to international students who graduate from U.S. colleges. Also known as permanent resident cards, such documents could open the doors of the immigration system to hundreds of thousands foreign-born individuals currently navigating the complicated world of visas.
The green-card proposal is only one piece of Trump's wider immigration plans, which also includes mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants and the end of birthright citizenship for children of "illegal aliens."
In Massachusetts — home to almost 80,000 international students — academic leaders told the Business Journal that retaining such students is in the national interest.
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Help us recognize the innovators from all parts of the Greater Boston health care industry. Nominations for 2025's Innovators in Healthcare are open through Dec. 8. Submit here.
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Here's what else happened this week
BXP presses pause on Back Bay tower
BXP, Inc. does not anticipate starting construction on a Back Bay office tower in the next year because the rents it could fetch are not worth the borrowing and building costs, an executive said.
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"I think the timing at the moment for that new development in Boston doesn’t really pencil relative to where existing rents are now," BXP President Douglas Linde told investors.
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Biotech VCs want to spend money
Venture capital might not be as free flowing as it was a few years ago, but local investors in the life sciences industry have money and looking to deploy it.
Hannah Green asked them where they want to deploy those dollars. Here's what they told her.
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Billion-dollar buy
VCs aren't the only players in the biotech industry willing to spend money. AbbVie said this week it will pay $1.4 billion in cash to acquire Boston's Aliada Therapeutics and its pipeline of treatments for central nervous system diseases, including a drug currently in clinical trials for Alzheimer's. Get the details.
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Mass. hospitals, insurers expect more disputes
The state's second-largest health insurer, Point32Health , has hit an impasse in negotiations over the cost of healthcare at two hospitals, meaning thousands of its health plan members will either have to change insurance or find new doctors.
It also appears headed toward a similar roadblock with two more hospitals. And, according to some industry insiders, we're likely going to see similar impasses or tense negotiations become public as healthcare costs continue to rise.
Isabel Hart takes you inside the dispute. Read more.