Astellas to expand presence in Massachusetts with new research hub
10 Aug 2023
AcquisitionCell Therapy
Astellas Pharma on Thursday announced plans to expand its footprint in Massachusetts with a newly planned life sciences facility in the biotechnology hotspot of Cambridge.
The new hub will contain offices and laboratories and, by 2024, occupy about 62,000 square feet of space. Astellas expects that, over time, “a few hundred” Boston-area employees in dealmaking, research and development roles will work at the facility. It will “enable our teams to work together seamlessly and capitalize on the diverse expertise both within the company and outside our walls,” said Chief Scientific Officer Yoshitsugu Shitaka, in a statement.
The space will also include a home for Discovery Accelerator — a startup-focused initiative Astellas hatched in 2021 — that will serve as an incubator for its biotech partners.
The facility is the third recent move the Japanese drugmaker has made to establish a presence in the Boston area. In 2019, the company put about $13 million into two incubators run by startup accelerator LabCentral, money earmarked for local gene and cell therapy startups. A year later, Astellas launched the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a Westborough, Massachusetts-based hub for cell therapy research and manufacturing.
Astellas has also acquired Boston-area startups Mitobridge, Ocata Therapeutics and Potenza Therapeutics.
The facility’s announcement comes amidst a broader change in how Astellas conducts its research. The company recently switched CEOs amid a push for continued growth when its top-selling cancer medicine Xtandi loses patent protection. Astellas also continues to pour money into cell and gene therapy, despite some recent setbacks. Earlier this week, it invested in cell therapy developer Poseida Therapeutics.
The company also opened up a research hub on the West Coast last year.
'
For more details,please visit the original website
The content of the article does not represent any opinions of Synapse and its affiliated companies. If there is any copyright infringement or error, please contact us, and we will deal with it within 24 hours.
Organizations
Indications
Targets
-Drugs
Hot reports
Get started for free today!
Accelerate Strategic R&D decision making with Synapse, PatSnap’s AI-powered Connected Innovation Intelligence Platform Built for Life Sciences Professionals.
Start your data trial now!
Synapse data is also accessible to external entities via APIs or data packages. Leverages most recent intelligence information, enabling fullest potential.