H3 Biomedicine more than doubles size of Cambridge, MA facility

Published: 27-Nov-2012

Will expand its services in pharmacokinetics and preclinical efficacy studies


H3 Biomedicine (H3), a US biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of treatments for cancer, has expanded its headquarters and laboratory facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The increase more than doubles the company's original space to approximately 4,500m2, and includes new laboratories, offices and meeting rooms. The expansion will support an anticipated staff of 75 employees by the end of 2013, up from 29 people in 2011. It will also allow the firm to expand its services in pharmacokinetics and preclinical efficacy studies.

‘While we remain an early-stage, research-focused company, our rapid growth this year marks a significant step toward developing novel oncology drug candidates,’ said Markus Warmuth, president and chief executive of H3 Biomedicine.

Last December, H3 Biomedicine opened its headquarters in Cambridge with support from Eisai Co, a research-based human healthcare (hhc) company, which pledged up to US$200m to H3 Biomedicine and will provide additional support for the company's clinical development programmes, including access to many of Eisai's drug development capabilities.

‘Eisai's commitment is based on our recognition that H3 Biomedicine possesses strong fundamentals in its science programmes and innovative approach toward cancer treatment development,’ said Haruo Naito, president and CEO of Eisai Co.

‘We are pleased that in this past year alone, the strong growth of its research-based initiatives has brought us closer to the vision of realising the potential of personalised medicine.’

H3 Biomedicine attributes the accelerated growth to the dedication of its scientists, including the bioinformatics team that is driving its cancer genome mining work. These efforts aim to identify recurrent gene mutations that are potential targets for drug therapies – the crucial first step in the company's mission to develop a library of novel oncology candidates for clinical testing.

Currently, H3 Biomedicine's leading programme is to develop drugs that target the SF3b1 gene. Several recent publications have implicated mutations in this gene in blood-related conditions, such as myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, as well as solid tumours such as those associated with skin, breast and pancreatic cancers.

H3 Biomedicine has formed several key collaborations this year, including projects with Compendia Bioscience and Horizon Discovery, and the expanded premises will enable the company to fulfil the programmatic requirements of additional partnerships in which it participates.

You may also like