Adaptimmune Builds New Facilities in Philadelphia and Oxfordshire, UK

Adaptimmune Therapeutics Builds New Facilities in Philadelphia and Oxfordshire, UK
October 9, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Adaptimmune Therapeutics, Plc (ADAP), with offices in Oxford, UK and Philadelphia, announced today that it is moving its U.S. headquarters and clinical operations to a new facility in Philadelphia.

A 47,400 square foot facility will be built at The Navy Yard’s Corporate Center, and will also include a cGMP manufacturing plant. It will support the company’s engineered cancer immunotherapies as they are developed for the clinic and commercialization.

Adaptimmune is in a period of rapid growth on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are putting in place the facilities to enable us to deliver our promising pipeline into the clinic and beyond,” said James Noble, chief executive officer of Adaptimmune in a statement. “This exciting new Philadelphia facility allows us to expand our clinical and early commercial manufacturing and control associated costs in anticipation of the commercialization of our product candidates.”

Adaptimmune plans to invest more than $4 million into the site and hire 110 new employees. The company received incentives from the State of Philadelphia’s Department of Community and Economic Development, including a $150,000 grant from the Pennsylvania First Program. The Governor’s Action Team coordinated the project.

Adaptimmune has shown a true commitment to Pennsylvania, and today’s announcement is great news for the commonwealth as 110 new, high-paying jobs will be created with this project,” said Governor Tom Wolf in a statement. “My budget proposal includes sustained funding for the life science sector and increased support for research within the industry so that we continue to see successes like this for years to come.”

On Oct. 6, Adaptimmune announced it was expanding its research and development operations by building a 67,000 square foot facility at Milton Park, Oxfordshire, UK. That facility will have lab space and officers, meeting rooms and a cafeteria for the 200 employees. That building is expected to be completed late in 2016.

“We started up Adaptimmune as three people on Milton Park in 2008 to research into engineered T-cell receptors to fight cancer, and we now have over 150 staff from across the world working out of our UK and US facilities,” said Noble in a statement. “They are contributing substantial scientific, development and corporate expertise to progress our preclinical and clinical programs and accelerate the development of our internal pipeline.”

The company made an initial public offering (IPO) in May, raising $191 million by selling 11.3 million shares of company stock at $17.

Company , peaked quickly, hitting $21.12 on June 16, dropping on July 10 to $15.66, peaking again to $20.24 on July 17. It is currently trading for $8.13.

In a July 2 report Leerink Swann issued a “buy” rating with a price target of $24. Zacks rated LINK http://www.otcoutlook.com/adaptimmune-therapeutics-plc-nasdaqadap-analyst-price-target/697037/ the stock at 3, giving it a “hold” rating. Three Wall Street analysts provided an average rating of 1.67, and two gave it a “strong buy” and one gave it a “hold.”

Back to news