On the heels of a string of new cancer licensing deals and biotech buyouts, Sanofi-Aventis says that it is preparing to lease space in Cambridge, MA for a new cancer division headquarters facility that will add about 300 high-paying jobs, according to a report in the Boston Globe.
Sanofi officials made it clear that Cambridge's biotech cluster, home to some of the world's best-known cancer researchers, was a natural choice for the $65 million expansion effort. Sanofi's oncology chief, Debasish Roychowdhury, was quick to sing Boston's praises; "given the city's role as one of the world's most important centers for biotech research and talented oncology minds.''
The new facility is expected to become a hive of oncology development activity for Sanofi. Just weeks ago Sanofi announced a $560 million deal to acquire the cancer drug developer TargeGen, and it forged a half-billion dollar pact to buy BiPar in 2009.
Sanofi has applied for about $9 million in tax credits and aid to help cover the cost of the expansion. Given Massachusetts' billion-dollar effort to build up its biotech cluster, the pharma giant has good reason to believe that local officials will come through--particularly as it plans to pay an average wage of $100,000 for its 300 new biotech jobs.
- here's the story from the Boston Globe