Worcester Business Journal

30 Worcester Business Journal | December 25, 2023 | wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal WBJ CALL FOR NOMINATIONS! This special edition and event honors top business leaders in Central Massachusetts for their companies' successes and contributions to the community. Our Business Leaders of the Year will be recognized in the categories of small and large business, nonprofit, innovator and family business leader of the year. In addition, we'll induct another select group of Central Mass business leaders in our 8th annual Hall of Fame awards. Winners will be profiled in the March 4, 2024 edition and will be honored at a special ceremony in late March. Know someone worthy of one of these awards? NOMINATE THEM TODAY! Nomination deadline: January 12, 2024 Further details and nomination form at www.wbjournal.com/businessleaders PRESENTING SPONSOR BUSINESS LEADERS HALL OF FAME AWARDS & BUSINESS LEADERS HALL OF FAME AWARDS & SUPPORTING SPONSOR PARAGUS STRATEGIC I.T. at the facility as part of acquisition. e sale comes as Mustang Bio re-pri- oritizes its productions, discontinuing a portion of its portfolio of cell therapy and gene therapy programs, according to a May 18 press release from the company. e sale of the Worcester facility is ex- pected to be completed in June, accord- ing to the press release. It is contin- gent upon approval of lease transfer from Mustang Bio to uBriGene by the building's owner, a UMass Chan Medical School affiliate, and the acceptance of employment at uBriGene among some key Mustang employees, according to the release. e press release did not indicate how many employees would be transferred from Mustang to uBriGene. In a state- ment to the WBJ, Dr. Manuel Litchman, president and CEO of Mustang, said "the aligned goal for the partnership is to continue to grow the advanced therapy manufacturing ecosystem in the Greater Boston (Worcester) area," but said the company was not disclosing employment details. Media contacts listed for Mustang were unable to offer additional informa- tion on uBriGene's plans for the facility. e release indicates at least some cur- rent staff at the Worcester facility will continue work there under new employ- ment. "I want to thank our manufacturing team for their dedication in building and growing our Worcester facility since it opened in 2018. While we are optimizing our resources at Mustang, we look for- ward to continuing to work with many of our colleagues in this new capacity, as our CDMO," said Litchman, president and CEO of Mustang, said in the press release. Mustang expects to incur severance charges related to the facility transaction of approximately $2.1 million, but did not specify which personnel this would apply to, according to the release. Mus- tang expects future corporate savings of $24 million related to the reduced facility and clinical operations expenses. "We believe that this strategic part- nership with uBriGene will meet our portfolio manufacturing needs to reach critical upcoming data inflection points, while extending our cash runway," said Litchman. e sale of the facility includes an upfront payment of $6 million and an additional $5 million payable aer equity raises following the close of the transac- tion. Debra Manning, senior vice president of human resources at Mustang Bio, previously told the WBJ the company did not have plans to leave Worcester. Pilot biomanufacturing lab opens at MBI Worcester-based Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives officially opened its pilot biomanufacturing lab on Oct. 18, which added 10 new laboratory spaces to the incubator in support of startups. MBI launched a $6-million capital campaign to fund the initiative in June, at which time nearly $4 million had already been secured. An MBI graduate company, Biocytogen, gave a $375,000 grant towards the launch of the center in September. e new lab space is accompanied by office space for 10 companies, and will build out MBI's StartUp & ScaleUp incubator model, which has been the launchpad for 30 companies since 2020, resulting in 130 jobs added to the mar- ket, according to MBI. e pilot biomanufacturing center is located at 17 Briden Street in Worces- ter, and launched in collaboration with the Waltham-based Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. With $45M in sales, Westborough life sciences park to move forward An affiliate of California investment firm, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., purchased a 35-acre plot of land at 29 Research Drive in Westborough, two months aer buying the neighboring former BJ's Wholesale Club headquar- ters. e purchases clear the way for the development of a four-building, 715,000-square-foot life science campus. e $13.25-million sale of 29 Research Drive comes aer Westbor- ough Research Investments, LLC, also affiliated with Alexandria, purchased the former BJ's headquarters at 25 Research Drive in January for $32 million. In 2022, Boston developer Samuels & Associates proposed demolishing the buildings at 25 and 29 Research Drive to build four buildings totaling 715,000 square feet as a life sciences, office, and manufacturing campus. e proposal was approved in September 2022. Continued from previous page An employee works at Mustang Bio's Worcester facility W

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