SD's Arcturus Therapeutics Expands Operations

November 3, 2014

By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

San Diego gene therapy biotech Arcturus Therapeutics is growing by leaps and bounds, saying Monday that it will expand operations from the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center to a new 10,000 square foot office and laboratory space at the prestigious Torrey Ridge Science Center, as well as hire new staff to help with its workload.

The center was previously Pfizer Labs and has an enormous amount of space already kitted out for both offices and lab facilities, which Arcturus management said they will use to further ramp up research on RNA medicines that can cure orphan diseases.

"The Arcturus story began at the cutting edge Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center here in San Diego. Today, we are 'graduating' from the incubator space and moving into top-tier facilities that will enable us to execute our vision of bringing transformational life-saving RNA medicines to patients," said Joseph Payne, president and CEO of Arcturus, in a statement.

Arcturus is not even two years old, having been founded in 2013 and nurtured as part of J&J’s incubator program as the passion for biotech startups caught fire in the last few years. Now the company is ready to venture out on its own, said its CEO.

"We are expanding our workforce and hiring key individuals to help us develop premier RNA medicines, such as our lead rare disease drug candidate, LUNAR-101, for treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis," he said.

An orphan disease because it affects only around 40,000 patient, transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis is a genetically mediated fatal disease caused by mutations in the TTR gene. Synthesized in the liver, the mutated TTR can cause errant amyloid proteins to aggregate and deposit, destroying body organs and tissue, such as the peripheral nerves and heart. Once diagnosed, patients with TTR usually only have a mean survival of two and half years. That’s precisely why more medicines are needed to help a patient population facing almost certain fatality without effective therapies, said both the company and local officials who applauded the move.

"San Diego is a city of innovation. Arcturus Therapeutics is an excellent example of the region's entrepreneurial spirit,” said Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego, in a statement. “Outstanding high-growth biotechnology companies like Arcturus are making us a global leader in technological breakthroughs while also providing high quality jobs for San Diegans here at home."