Soon to be … AstraZeneca Tower? Or emptied out?
(Updated Monday) Alexion — the biopharmaceutical company that built a downtown tower with $41 million in government corporate welfare in 2016 and then moved its headquarters from New Haven to Boston a mere 18 months later — now has an even more distant main office: Cambridge, England.
That’s because the Cambridge-based drugmaker AstraZeneca has struck a deal to buy Alexion for $39 billion, in 2020’s biggest health-care takeover.
Yes, that AstraZeneca — one of the companies racing to bring a Covid-19 vaccine to market.
Its new Alexion division has a different mission: it produces drugs to treat rare diseases. Its hallmark drugs, Soliris and Ultomiris, treat blood disorders. (In 2016 the company fired its CEO amid reports of deceptive Soliris sales practices.)
“Combining AstraZeneca’s capabilities in precision medicine and Alexion’s expertise in rare-disease development and commercialisation will enable the new company to develop a portfolio of medicines addressing the large unmet needs of patients suffering from rare diseases,” AstraZeneca stated in its release Saturday announcing the deal.
“The two companies have been on converging paths, AstraZeneca expanding its presence from primary to speciality care, whereas Alexion has been progressing from ultra-orphan to orphan and speciality conditions.”
The release makes no mention of New Haven. It does state that the company “intends to build on its geographical footprint and extensive emerging markets presence to accelerate the worldwide expansion of Alexion’s portfolio.” Which may mean good news, at least, for Boston’s job market: “AstraZeneca intends to establish Boston, Massachusetts, US as its headquarters for rare diseases, capitalising on talent in the greater Boston area.”
On Monday, AstraZeneca spokesperson Brendan McEvoy responded by email to a Saturday request for comment.
McEvoy noted that the deal hasn’t closed yet, so it’s too early to comment on details.
“What we can share now,” he added, “is that AstraZeneca is currently working towards a plan of how to best integrate Alexion into AstraZeneca’s existing infrastructure and will give an update in due course.”
After moving its headquarters from New Haven for Boston, Alexion cleared out half the floors of the 14-story tower it built at 100 College St. with the $41 million in help from the state’s “First Five” job-creation program. It remained in about half the lab and research space. Yale rents much of the rest. (The full building remains on the tax rolls. Alexion paid back $28 million of the $41 million for violating its job-retention promises.)
City economic development chief MIke Piscitelli Saturday called the news about the sale “a very significant development for New Haven.”
“AztraZeneca indicates in the release that they see value in Alexion’s current portfolio and pipeline. That speaks to the talent here in New Haven and puts us in a competitive position,” Piscitelli said.
As for details about how the deal will affect the city, Piscitelli noted. “It’s very early in the process, as the closing would not be until the 3rd quarter of 2021.”
Mayor Justin Elicker hailed the sale in a release. He noted that “these two companies both share an innate commitment to innovation, bringing together Alexion’s expertise in complement research and rare diseases with AstraZeneca’s strength in immunology.”