A Greater Cincinnati startup will open a 7,000-square-foot research and development center as it continues to plan for a significant ramp-up in facilities and staff.
Medical device maker Enable Injections, which is developing a palm-sized wearable disk called EnFuse that could prove an alternative to traditional IV administration, plans to open a new “innovation center,” a 7,138-square-foot facility at 6306 Centre Park Drive in Schumacher Commerce Park in West Chester Township. The leased center will temporarily house Enable’s research and development teams and equipment, with a target occupancy in March.
The addition will support the company’s continued growth as Enable searches for a new headquarters site, officials said. CEO Mike Hooven told Cincy Inno the company wants to build a 150,000-square-foot facility as it plans to double its headcount in the next five years.
Enable currently has around 200 employees with additional facilities in West Chester and Franklin, in addition to its current 40,000-square-foot Evendale headquarters.
“We look forward to fully utilizing these facilities over the next several years while we begin planning to consolidate our operations into a single development and manufacturing headquarters,” Hooven said.
Enable is moving quickly toward commercialization for enFuse, a wearable drug-delivery device. The company is ramping up hiring efforts in anticipation of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, likely this year.
The company said about 15 people would be based at the Schumacher Commerce Park site at move-in. The space is currently being fitted out by Schumacher Dugan, a West Chester-based general contractor and the building's owner. Enable worked with Peter Snow from Cushman & Wakefield to identify the space and negotiate the lease.
Enable plans to add 257 jobs with more than $19.8 million in new payroll by 2027. In October, the company landed millions in incentives to aid its projected hiring push.
In terms of its future HQ site, Evendale is in the running as a possible location, as are Blue Ash, Mason, West Chester and others, the company said.
The enFuse has the potential to replace traditional IV therapy, with several differentiators that could catapult Enable into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Hooven has said. The device can deliver a drug more quickly than traditional IV administration and provides a safer, more convenient and cost-effective form of treatment.
Enable has raised more than $311 million to fund its efforts, including a $215 million Series C from January – a record-high venture capital raise for a Greater Cincinnati startup.
Hooven has not disclosed the company’s valuation but Enable is likely one of the region’s rare unicorns, a title reserved for startups worth $1 billion or more.
Its backers include multibillion-dollar drugmaker Sanofi; Magnetar Capital, an Illinois-based hedge fund; Squarepoint Capital; Woody Creek Capital Partners; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital; CincyTech; Cintrifuse; Cleveland Clinic and Ohio Innovation Fund, among others.
