New Biotech Campus
Astellas has announced plans to build a new biotech campus in South San Francisco. The new 154,000-square-foot facility will serve as a West Coast research, innovation, and commercial collaboration hub across corporate and program areas.
Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., "Astellas") today announced plans to establish a West Coast innovation and research center in South San Francisco. The new 154,000-square-foot building at 480 Forbes Boulevard will house several Astellas business units and functions that are currently scattered throughout the San Francisco area.
Employees from research, technical operations, medical and development, commercial, and relevant administrative support functions will work at the new innovation and research center. Astellas will invest approximately $70 million to build the new state-of-the-art facility, which will include lab and co-working spaces to accommodate future growth as the company advances a variety of innovative cell and gene therapies for patients with limited or no treatment options, such as rare diseases and cancer.
"By uniting our business units in the Bay Area, we are creating a dedicated West Coast center in the vibrant South San Francisco corridor alongside other leaders in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry," said Yoshitsugu Shitaka, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Astellas. "Similar to the Astellas Biomedical Innovation Hub located in the greater Boston area, this new facility will foster even greater levels of collaboration amongst our world-class, multi-disciplinary teams working in cell and gene therapies, development of business opportunities and all those who support our endeavors to create value for patients."
Astellas expects to complete the building and be operational in summer 2023. Astellas will be the sole occupant of the new building and will spend the next year equipping the interior with state-of-the-art research labs, office spaces, and other amenities specifically designed to accommodate the West Coast employees of Astellas Gene Therapies, Xyphos Biosciences, business development, Rx+® Business Accelerator, and the planned future growth within those units. In addition, the co-location of these businesses allows for more efficient use of space by combining the lab and office facilities into one new building, compared to current independent locations.
Astellas' VISION is to be at the forefront of healthcare change and to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. Under this vision, Astellas is focused on bringing life-changing cell and gene therapy treatments to patients suffering from diseases that lack treatment options.
Astellas has already reflected the impact from this matter in its financial forecast of the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
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