September 30, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Baxter International, Inc. said Monday it will form a new global innovation and research and development (R&D) center in Cambridge, Mass., for its biopharmaceuticals business, which will eventually employee 400 workers.
The new center is slated to become a separate, independent global company known as Baxalta Incorporated in mid-2015.
The company said expects to open the first phase of the 200,000-square feet in leased space later this year, and will continue to transition work to the new facility over the next two years.
The R&D positions that will relocate to the new center are currently based in California and Europe. The new biopharmaceutical company will maintain certain R&D operations at its location in Vienna, Austria, and will have its corporate headquarters in northern Illinois.
Baxter will be leasing about 200,000 square feet of office space in the heart of Cambridge’s Kendall Square in a building owned by a joint venture of BioMed Realty Trust and Prudential Real Estate Investors.
The new site, next to Genzyme ’s headquarters, “will position the company to enhance patient care by advancing and building its robust innovation pipeline,” which is centered on core areas of expertise in hematology, immunology, and through technology platforms like gene therapy and biosimilars.
''Critical elements to our success as an independent biopharmaceuticals company will be our ability to accelerate innovation, optimize R&D productivity, and deliver on our promise to patients,” said said Ludwig Hantson, president of Baxter BioScience, in a statement.
Baxter manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma and other chronic and acute medical conditions.
''Our new innovation center will increase R&D collaboration and efficiency, connect us directly to a rich pool of talent in new and emerging biotech areas, and strengthen our ability to drive programs forward in cooperation with current and future partners,’' said John Orloff, vice president and global head of research and development for Baxter BioScience, in a statement.
