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| Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo |
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ($REGN), riding high with a top-selling eye drug and some promising pipeline assets, is planning to invest $150 million in its native New York, supporting 300 new jobs at its fast-growing R&D campus.
The company made its announcement alongside Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came to Regeneron's Tarrytown hub for the grand opening of its last major expansion: a pair of buildings housing 300,000 square feet of lab and office space. Regeneron's latest commitment will fund a 192,000-square-foot addition on the same campus, situated about 25 miles from New York City, bringing a similar mix of labs and offices.
Regeneron is raking in revenue with the blockbuster eye treatment Eylea and, alongside frequent partner Sanofi ($SNY), wading into the cardiovascular market with the recently approved Praluent. The Big Biotech's commercial success has bankrolled a sweeping expansion over the past few years, and Regeneron now employs more than 4,000 people around the world with the majority at its 1.1-million-square-foot campus in Tarrytown.
The company's next big project is dupilumab, now in Phase III development for eczema and asthma, and analysts say it could bring in more than $2.5 billion a year if it can succeed in both. Behind that is sarilumab, another Sanofi-partnered antibody that has successfully treated rheumatoid arthritis in a range of Phase III trials with an FDA filing planned for this year.
And Regeneron sees a bright future for itself in the booming field of immuno-oncology, convincing Sanofi to sign a $1.8 billion deal over the summer to partner up on a handful of early-stage antibodies designed to marshal the body's natural defenses against cancers.
- read Cuomo's release
- here's Regeneron's statement