Sept. 13 - The Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative includes a provision that, if unresolved, could discourage academic scientists from spinning out new firms and could limit venture-capital investments, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore and Polaris Venture Partners’ Amir Nashat wrote in a Boston Herald commentary. The provision allows blanket-licensing agreements that award a single company access to patents derived from publicly funded research conducted at educational institutions in the state. Boston Herald