Astellas Pharma (TSE: 4503) plans to establish a biotech campus in South San Francisco, California, as the core of its West Coast R&D operations.
Located near Genentech and Verily Life Sciences facilities, the site at 480 Forbes Boulevard will consolidate several Astellas business units and functions currently based throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
The operations will be housed in a 154,000-ft2 building.
The company plans to spend $70 million to construct the new facility, including lab and co-working space.
Astellas has ramped up its focus on cell and gene therapy following its 2019 acquisition of Audentes Therapeutics for approximately $3 billion. Astellas Pharma is among the largest cell and gene therapy firms in the world.
Astellas already has an East Coast biomedical innovation hub in Boston area.
The company anticipates completing the construction of the new site in the summer of 2023.