CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Biotechnology industry trade groups, companies, academic institutions and other organizations from across the region banded together today to establish the New England Biotech Association (NEBA).

“New England is a global leader in biotechnology, and we need to stay in that leadership role,” NEBA Chair Paula C. Newton, president of the New Hampshire Bio/Medical Council, said in a statement. “This organization will be at the forefront of advancing issues and educating the public and policy leaders about life sciences and its present and future role in the region’s economy and health care system.”

The group – which lists more than 600 members, from all six New England states, including the Rhode Island BioGroup, a division of the Tech Collective; the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and Massachusetts High Technology Council; the Biotech Association of Maine;, the Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE); the New Hampshire Bio/Medical Council; and the now-forming Biotech Association of Vermont – has been in the planning stages for the past year, organizers said. It held its first board meeting this morning in Cambridge.

NEBA “will serve as a regional policy and public affairs voice for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry, committed to ensuring that New England remains a global leader in biotechnology and the life sciences,” the group said.

The New England Biotech Association is based in Wakefield, Mass. Additional information is available at www.NewEnglandBiotech.org. To learn more about the Tech Collective and its Rhode Island BioGroup, visit BioGroupRI.org .