Last week Nabsys Inc. shut its doors, costing approximately 40 people their jobs and investors about $50 million.
That's the nature of the beast in the high-risk biotech field. But by some of the reaction to the company's failure, it is clear that the loss is not going down easily.
The reason is that the publicly funded (but privately managed) Slater Technology Fund made roughly $1 million in investments in Nabsys over the years.
The reaction draws on the same anger toward the 38 Studios LLC investment made by the state, the one that has turned so many against public funds being used to help local companies with great potential get started.
Slater's approach to its investments is measured, however, across a broad spectrum of companies, and they are always made alongside private capital.
If Rhode Island wants to be a part of the 21st-century economy, one that requires involvement in high-risk, knowledge-economy enterprises, it will have to learn to stomach the occasional losses. Otherwise, the state's malaise will be perpetual. •