Hartford Business Journal

4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 22, 2024 What's Trending Sanofi's CT exit reflects challenges of growing state's bioscience industry anything, there are going to be more jobs because we have done a lot with a little," Cox said at the time. However, less than a year after the sale closed, Cox left the company. After the sale, Sanofi continued to operate Protein Sciences' lab in Meriden, which employed about 100 people. Now, Sanofi said it plans to sell the 1000 Research Parkway property, which is composed of two buildings spanning about 19,000 square feet. It also leases a third building across the street at 875 Research Parkway. All three sites will close by the end of 2024, the spokesperson said. Sanofi has been consolidating offices over the last several years. According to its 2023 annual report, the company said it seeks to disin- vest from sites that are "non-core to our business model" and that "office space rationalization remain(s) an important goal to help us achieve a responsible environmental footprint." In a statement to HBJ, Sanofi said: "We will seek to employ as many of the impacted employees as possible within Sanofi. However, when we do implement changes, there are times that our people are affected. In these events, we provide multiple avenues of support through all transitions." Sanofi also leases 900,000 square feet of newly built office space in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it has consolidated a number of facilities from suburban areas, according to the Boston Globe. The company is Massachusetts' largest life sciences employer. By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com P aris pharmaceutical giant Sanofi established a Connecticut pres- ence in 2017 when it acquired a poster child of the state's nascent bioscience industry, Protein Sciences Corp., in a deal valued at $750 million. Now, Sanofi quietly plans to close Protein Sciences' former headquarters at 1000 Research Parkway in Meriden and exit the state by the end of 2024. A Sanofi spokesperson confirmed to the Hartford Business Journal that the company will move its Meriden manufacturing operations to Swift- water, Pennsylvania, which has a state-of-the-art facility for production of pandemic flu vaccines. The closure is part of a broader effort by Sanofi to consolidate its offices, and it reflects some of the challenges in growing the state's bioscience industry, which employed 25,493 people in 2023, down slightly from 2022, but down 13.3% since 2001, according to data from the state Department of Labor. Oftentimes, when small bioscience companies develop a successful drug they become acquisition targets for big pharma companies, which then control future decisions on local employment and real estate needs. However, despite the number of jobs being down over the last few decades, the number of bioscience businesses in the state has more than doubled to 1,647, DOL data shows. The state's bioscience industry also pays well, with an average salary of $138,650. Protein Sciences, established in 1984, captured national attention in 2013 when it announced that its first-of-a-kind recombinant influenza vaccine, made with insect cells in an egg-free process, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. The vaccine, called Flublok, was initially approved for people 18 to 49 years old. The FDA expanded its age indication to all adults 18 and over in 2014. By 2016, Flublok became available in prefilled syringes. At the time of the sale, Sanofi said the acquisition allowed it to "broaden its flu portfolio with a non-egg based vaccine." It agreed to make an upfront payment of $650 million and pay up to $100 million upon achievement of certain milestones. Meantime, the CEO of Protein Sciences at the time, Manon M.J. Cox, told the Hartford Business Journal in 2017 that Flublok would benefit from Sanofi's expertise in the field of influenza vaccines. Cox called the deal the "culmination of long-term and recent efforts to establish the firm's products in the global market," saying she was eager to retain an active role at the company. "Since the company is being acquired for its technology, if Nonperforming loan forces CT bank to set aside $6.6M reserve A Connecticut-based bank said it will take a $6.6 million second-quarter hit from a nonperforming loan that was used to help finance a dental practice deal. Bankwell Financial Group Inc., parent company of New Canaan- based community bank Bankwell, disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that its second quarter financial performance will be "adversely impacted" by $6.6 million it will set aside in reserve. The set aside stems from an $8.7 million commercial loan the bank orig- reserve, or loan loss provision, to cover loans that have gone bad, or may go bad in the future. That loan loss provision counts as an expense on a bank's income state- ment, meaning it has a direct impact on profitability. Bankwell Financial said it previously set aside $400,000 in reserves to cover the dental practice loan, which means its remaining exposure is $1.7 million. Bankwell, with $3.15 billion in assets, operates branches in New Canaan, Stamford, Fairfield, West- port, Darien, Norwalk and Hamden. In the first quarter of 2024, the bank reported profits of $3.76 million, or 48 cents per share, down from $10.38 million, or $1.34 per share, in profits in the year-ago period. PHOTO | COSTAR Bankwell Financial's New Canaan headquarters at 258 Elm St. 2002 30K 25K 20K 2003 2004 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012 2014 2016 2017 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 BIOSCIENCE EMPLOYMENT IN CT BIOSCIENCE ESTABLISHMENTS IN CT J O B S 2K 1.5K 1K 500 2002 2003 2004 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 # OF BUSINESSES Source: CT DOL, QCEW Source: CT DOL, QCEW inated in 2022 to help finance "a sponsor-owned pediatric dental practice." According to the bank, the loan was reported as nonperforming as of the fourth quarter of 2023. "The sponsor and seller are engaged in ongoing litigation, causing unresolved billing issues and restricted cash flows," Bank- well said of the dental practice deal it helped finance. It didn't provide any more details about the loan or the deal. Banks must set aside a AT A GLANCE Bankwell Financial Group 1Q 2024 1Q 2023 FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES 133 136 ASSETS $3.15B $3.21B TOTAL LOANS & LEASES $2.67B $2.75M NET INCOME $3.76M $10.38M Source: Bankwell Financial Group; Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

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