Provost Steven E. Hyman said yesterday he is pleased with the growing biotech industry in Cambridge, but said it is still too early for the University to consider leasing undeveloped land it owns to biotech companies.

An advisory committee on whether to use the University’s land in Allston for science, which would discuss such options, has yet to meet.

“The timing for Allston simply was not right,” Hyman wrote in an e-mail. “Moreover the question of whether we would lease space to biotech or large [pharmaceutical companies] has not been discussed yet.”

Although Harvard was not directly involved, Herrling credits the successful collaboration of Novartis and a number of Harvard professors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute with influencing the decision to come to Cambridge.

“That was the experience that told us it would work,” said Herrling. “We hope that by being here we will have many more successes.”

Depending on the success of NIBRI, Herrling said, Novartis may look to expand further in the Cambridge area.

—Staff writer Joseph P. Flood can be reached at flood@fas.harvard.edu.