The new hub will house most of the company’s US-based research and development activities
Novo Nordisk to build an R&D hub in the greater Boston metro area. (Credit: Novo Nordisk A/S)
Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has unveiled plans to build a research and development (R&D) hub in the greater Boston metro area, US.
The new hub is expected to be the largest R&D hub of the company outside of Denmark.
It will use the firm’s existing presence in Lexington, Cambridge, and Watertown, Massachusetts.
Novo Nordisk said that the new hub will house most of its US-based R&D activities.
According to the pharmaceutical firm, the new centre is expected to generate over 200 new jobs in the Boston area this year.
More than 150 of the new jobs will be for lab-based and clinical development in Lexington and Watertown and for those engaged in data science, biology or chemical research, ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) research, and clinical development.
Novo Nordisk chief scientific officer Marcus Schindler said: “The Boston area is the leading centre of biopharmaceutical innovation in the US. With more than 1,000 life science companies, world-renowned institutions at the forefront of scientific discovery, and leading academic institutions, the life sciences community in greater Boston has produced some of the world’s most innovative ideas in medicine.
“With today’s announcement, we are committing to further expansion and to having a major life sciences presence in the Boston area, to support pipeline expansion into new modalities, with the ultimate goal of delivering new innovative medicines to people living with chronic diseases.”
Last year, the Danish pharma company started converting a 100,000-square-foot space next to its existing facilities in Lexington. The space includes a new advanced lab.
The company will accommodate its RNAi research and development and oral formulation units in the Lexington facility.
The existing lab and office space in Lexington, which totals more than 80,000ft2, will be made accessible to R&D organisations that co-locate there.
Novo Nordisk will move its lab-based discovery activities from Seattle to other locations in the global R&D network and shutter the R&D facility in Indianapolis. This will be after the greater Boston hub is established as its primary R&D location in the US.