Astellas Shutting Gene Therapy Facility in South San Francisco, CA

Astellas Gene Therapies is closing its gene therapy biomanufacturing plant in South San Francisco, CA, and will shift all of that facility's work to a site in Sanford, NC, in a move the company said was intended to streamline its operations."The consolidation of our operations is a planned step aimed at further improvements in our manufacturing capabilities," Astellas said in a statement."We are confident this move will allow us to enhance efficiency and better serve our patients and partners' needs." 1 Astellas said the shutdown would affect 100 employees but would not disclose how many of the 100 will lose their jobs.However, Astellas in recent months has disclosed plans to lay off 17 of those employees in separate filings submitted to California's Economic Development Department under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.Ten of the staffers lost their jobs in June, while the other seven will be idled as of October 21.The shutdown of the South San Francisco plant is expected to be completed in March 2025.Astellas will continue operations in South San Francisco, where the company in May celebrated the opening of a $90 million Innovation Center.The 154,000-square-foot (14,307-square-meter) center was developed to consolidate the company's West Coast research, technical operations, medical, and development and commercial services staffs, which previously had been divided among multiple sites across the San Francisco Bay Area.Astellas' presence in South San Francisco dates back to 2020, when it acquired Audentes Therapeutics for $3 billion, with the goal of become a global leader in adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based genetic medicines.Audentes became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astellas, which later integrated the acquired company's operations into the parent company and renamed them Astellas Gene Therapies.In 2022, Astellas Gene Therapies expanded to Sanford, NC, when it opened a $100 million, 135,000-squarefoot gene manufacturing facility.ADventure was designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and