Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, riding high with a top-selling eye drug and some promising pipeline assets, is planning to invest $150 million in its native New York, supporting 300 new jobs at its fast-growing R&D campus.
The company made its announcement alongside Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came to Regeneron’s Tarrytown hub for the grand opening of its last major expansion: a pair of buildings housing 300,000 square feet of lab and office space. Regeneron’s latest commitment will fund a 192,000-square-foot addition on the same campus, situated about 25 miles from New York City, bringing a similar mix of labs and offices.
Regeneron is raking in revenue with the blockbuster eye treatment Eylea and, alongside frequent partner Sanofi, wading into the cardiovascular market with the recently approved Praluent. The Big Biotech’s commercial success has bankrolled a sweeping expansion over the past few years, and Regeneron now employs more than 4,000 people around the world with the majority at its 1.1-million-square-foot campus in Tarrytown.
The company’s next big project is dupilumab, now in Phase III development for eczema and asthma, and analysts say it could bring in more than $2.5 billion a year if it can succeed in both. Behind that is sarilumab, another Sanofi-partnered antibody that has successfully treated rheumatoid arthritis in a range of Phase III trials with an FDA filing planned for this year.
And Regeneron sees a bright future for itself in the booming field of immuno-oncology, convincing Sanofi to sign a $1.8 billion deal over the summer to partner up on a handful of early-stage antibodies designed to marshal the body’s natural defenses against cancers.
By Damian Garde
Source: Fierce Biotech
Big Pharma has long seen the potential for AI and machine learning to accelerate drug development. But Novo Nordisk is going a step further by channeling $200 million toward the creation of a computer that will outrun anything in existence.
Current methods for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease rely on a complex combination of self- and caregiver-reported symptoms, a physical examination and either a PET scan or a spinal tap to look for evidence of amyloid plaque build-ups in the brain. But a new artificial intelligence-based method may make the diagnostic process a much more objective one.
There is lots of talk about diversity and inclusion in business, including in pharma and medtech. A new report by the Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), a think tank focusing on migration and diversity, released its “Minority Businesses Matter: Europe” report highlighting the successes and challenges of ethnic minority-owned businesses in Europe.
