May 5, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Hera BioLabs announced recently that it was moving its headquarters from the University of Kentucky campus to new facilities in Lexington, Ky. The company, which currently employs seven people, plans to invest $1.8 million in a new facility and create 23 new jobs.
Hera BioLabs is a contract research organization (CRO) that was spun out of Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals in 2015. Transposagen is a private biotech company that provides off-the-shelf and custom genetically modified rat models to over 50 companies and laboratories worldwide, with a particular expertise in genetically modified rat models.
Hera BioLabs indicates it delivers gene editing tools and services to more than 300 independent clients, as well as all of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies.
As part of the transition, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority gave preliminary approval to Hera for up to $300,000 in tax incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program. This incentive is performance-based, and lets Hera keep a percentage of its investment through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments.
Part of the new plan and location is to rebuild an existing structure to become laboratory space to produce specialized laboratory rat models. According to Jack Crawford, Hera’s chief executive officer, the rat models will make pharmaceutical testing faster, safer and more cost-effective.
“We aim to develop a safer, healthier world through the advancement of toxicology testing,” Crawford said in a statement. “Kentucky is an ideal location for a CRO like Hera to start and grow as it offers a competitive edge in manufacturing and an excellent place to recruit and attract the type of talent we are looking for.”
The company recently announced that it had licensed the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line, which was developed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). These cell models will be used in neurotoxicity services and to study central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Hera, working with researchers at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), developed Precision Toxicology neurotoxicant reporter cell lines and related neurotoxicity services.
In addition to its CRO services, it also plans to offer various laboratory services and animal husbandry to its menu of offerings.
The company is also eligible for resources from the Kentucky Skills Network, such as no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives.
“Hera’s success is Lexington’s success in creating an environment that attracts entrepreneurship and enables businesses to prosper,” said Lexington Mayor Jim Gray in a statement. “When a home-grown biotech firm expands here we know we’re on the right track.”
It was a move lauded by numerous Kentucky politicians. Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, of Lexington, said in a statement, “Combining a new facility with its promising technology and a background with Transposagen, Hera BioLabs can accomplish great things here in Lexington. The area offers a broad range of resources, from the expertise and graduates trained at the University of Kentucky, to Lexington’s private-sector biomedical companies to members of the skilled local workforce. I congratulate Hera and look forward to seeing the company succeed.”
