Denali, Helmed by Former Genentech Execs, Takes Space in South San Francisco Site

January 18, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- Startup Denali Therapeutics with a focus on finding an effective treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, have taken up new lab and office space in The Cove, one of the biggest real estate developments of life science industries in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Business Times reported this morning.

The Cove broke ground last year. The development is South San Francisco’s first ground-up multi-tenant life science development in close to a decade. When complete, the Cove is planned to be an 884,000 square foot, fully integrated, waterfront campus located on Oyster Point Boulevard in South San Francisco. The campus design consists of seven buildings ranging in size from 102,000 square feet to 158,000 square feet in both single- and multi-tenant building configurations. The first phase of the project, consisting of two buildings totaling 253,000 square feet, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.

Denali, which is helmed by former Genentech veterans, took over a full floor in the new space less than a year after its launch. The Times said Denali confirmed the space was large enough to house 150 employees, but did not provide any additional information about how large a space it will occupy.

In addition to Denali, CytomX Therapeutics Inc. signed a 10-year lease for 76,153 square feet of office and laboratory space, the Times reported. The two tenants are confirmation for developers HCP that the space in The Cove confirms the need for office and lab space in a tight real estate market, the Times said. The land where The Cove is being developed was originally owned by Genentech, the former home of several of Denali’s executives.

Denali Therapeutics launched May 14, 2015 to tackle neurodegenerative diseases, including forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The company was founded by three former Genentech executives, a company that is also looking to make headways in neurodegenerative treatments.

Denali Therapeutics launched with a bankroll of $217 million in venture capital. Denali’s approach will be to focus on newly discovered genes tied to degenerative brain diseases. Ryan Watts, Denali’s chief executive officer, said the company will not chase the same neurodegenerative targets other companies have, including amyloid plaque, tau proteins, and regards to Parkinson’s disease, alpha-synuclein. Watts did say that Denali will go after new targets: genes that are implicated in disease, which the company calls degenogenes, as well as biological processes that those genes trigger. Denali said its research will be conducted from scratch using the funds from its first round of financing, however, company officials have not ruled out bringing work in from outside the company. What that might be though, is as of yet unknown. Watts said a target for future exploration is the degeneration of axons, the part of a neuron that transmits electrical signals.

Denali Therapeutics is already evaluating 12 still undisclosed drug targets. However, what those discoveries and drug targets are, Denali is remaining mum about for the foreseeable future. Morgan Warners, a company spokesperson, said in an email that Denali “has declined to make plans public until such time as it announces them.”