Bayer's Job Cuts at Mission Bay Campus Leaves Room for New Bay Area Startups

Bayer's Job Cuts at Mission Bay Campus Leaves Room for New Bay Area Startups February 24, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

SAN FRANCISCO – One year ago BioSpace reported that the Bay Area’s Mission Bay, a hotspot for biotech startups, was running out of room. In August, Bayer announced it planned to terminate a number of early stage researchers in hematology and ophthalmology at its Mission Bay innovation facility as part of a reorganization.

When the company cut its own researchers, there was room for the other startups using the facility to flex their wings and grow a bit. Now, Bayer sees an opportunity to provide even more space for fledgling startups and will expand the amount of space it has in its innovation facility, called the CoLaborator. The company will expand the 6,000 square-foot facility to 36,000 square feet. Ron Leuty of the San Francisco Business Times reported that Bayer is hoping to fill the space with innovative startups quickly. So far, Chris Haskell, head of Bayer’s West Cost Innovation Center, reported that filling up the space shouldn’t be too difficult. He told the Times he is receiving on average two requests per week from startups seeking space.

One of the unique aspects of Bayer’s innovation center is the companies that sign a lease for space are not required to have any relationship with Bayer. However, the Times points out that “Bayer and other partners often are useful guinea pigs for proving out a younger, smaller company’s concepts.” Haskell also said that there is “mutual benefit” to finding commonality with the leasing companies.

One tenant, ProLynx LLC, , forged a successful partnership with Bayer that has seen it take one cancer drug into the clinic, while it has two others in preclinical toxicology studies, the Times reported.

Currently there are five startups using the space, but with the number of requests Haskell is receiving, that’s sure to grow quickly. Space will be priced at market rates, which in Mission Bay is approximately $50 per square foot for laboratory space, the Times said. Startups seeking space have the option to lease a single bench to larger spaces. The company will be leasing space through May, the Times said.

For Bayer, its Mission Bay researchers will continue to focus on cardiovascular, cancer and gynecological research. However, if some of these smaller companies using its innovation center space come up with something so enticing, it’s not a stretch to imagine the pharma giant partnering with them in some manner—especially if the work falls into its core areas of research.

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