PTC Therapeutics Acquires Biologics Facility from Bristol-Myers Squibb

PTC Therapeutics has signed a long-term lease agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) to acquire BMS’ biologics facility in New Jersey, PTC announced in an Aug. 5, 2019 press release. Under the agreement, PTC will gain access to approximately 185,000 ft2 of space, including an existing state-of-the-art biologics production facility and supporting research and operations buildings on the BMS Hopewell, NJ, campus. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

PTC plans to further develop the biologics facility to support gene therapy production and foster innovation and employment in the community. In addition, the company plans to move its research operations to a newly renovated building on the same campus. These facilities will complement and enhance existing operations at the company’s global headquarters in South Plainfield, NJ. 

"The Hopewell facility is a vital part of our strategy to develop best-in-class therapeutics for patients with high unmet medical need," said Stuart W. Peltz, PhD, PTC’s CEO, in a company press release. "Obtaining this facility allows PTC to execute on our plans of rapidly advancing our gene therapy pipeline. Access to best-in-class technology and highly qualified biologics operation specialists is key for PTC to meet our goal of becoming a leader in gene therapy."

The facility is located on an existing BMS property encompassing more than a million square feet which BMS is transitioning into a multi-tenant research and development campus. PTC intends to initially dedicate the cGMP suites on the site, which were recently renovated, to produce material that will serve multiple pre-clinical and clinical programs. This will add to the current pre-clinical production capacity in Bridgewater, NJ. Together with the start-up of the gene therapy development and production operations, PTC plans to relocate and expand its global discovery and research operations to the same site in 2020.

Source: PTC Therapeutics