October 13, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Spanish biotech ORYZON Genomics has plans for more expansion than its recent office opening in Cambridge, the Alzheimer’s and cancer drug researcher told the Boston Business Journal Friday, October 10.
CEO Carlos Buesa told the paper that he believes the company will eventually have its headquarters in the area and could even go public as its pipeline of potential drugs develops. Buesa underscored the importance of the Boston area as a “hub” of biotech and said he is in regular communication with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), the $1 billion, 10-year program that’s been luring biotech to the state for seven years.
“We thought the folks there really care for the people they are trying to help,” he said of the MLSC, a. He said he was convinced that the Boston area is the global hub of biotech by the MLSC. “We got the indication that the place to be is here.”
Globally, Oryzon has around 30 employees, to which it hopes to add 10 in its Cambridge offices. New hires in that unit could include an investor relations specialist and two financial positions. Oryzon is currently headquartered in Barcelona, Spain.
Its two primary drugs are a leukemia drug partnered with Roche, and an Alzheimer’s therapy that has not been tested on humans yet. Both are enzyme based gene therapies.
“At a high level, we’re like the European Epizyme,” Buesa told the paper.
