Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: SANA) is doubling down on its commitment to the Puget Sound region.
The biotech, which also has operations in South San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced Wednesday it is developing and leasing a roughly 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Bothell that will replace its Fremont, California, facility. Last year, Sana had signed a 10-year lease, with options for two additional five-year terms, for 163,193 square feet of space in Fremont for roughly $200,000 a month.
"We have long viewed an internal manufacturing capability as core to our long-term success in consistently making these complex medicines at the scale and cost needed to maximize our impact,” Steve Harr, Sana’s CEO, said in a news release. “This new facility enables us to continue to develop our internal manufacturing with no anticipated impact to the timing of our programs, and in a more cost-effective manner."
According to the release, Sana expects the move to save the biotech more than $100 million over the next three years. A regulatory filing by the company lists the location as 3555 Monte Villa Parkway in Bothell, at the Alexandria Center for Advanced Technologies — Monte Villa. The landlord is listed in public records as an entity governed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
The regulatory documents say Sana is signing a 16-year lease with the option for three additional five-year terms, and Sana will start paying rent one year after the lease starts. The base rent will begin at roughly $300,000 per month for the first year, after which it will increase by about 3% annually. Sana is also entitled to up to almost $28 million in tenant improvement allowances.
A Sana spokesperson said in an email to the Business Journal the biotech has "not announced specific plans for the lease in California at this time," but Sana is "confident we will be able to find a solution quickly."
The spokesperson added Sana was still in the design phase for the Fremont facility, and its anticipated $100 million in savings would come from lower costs to build out the Bothell site, lower operating costs, the tenant allowances and other factors. Sana didn't say when the Bothell facility will open or how many workers it will hold.
In the regulatory filing, Sana said it plans to release a full version of the lease as part of its quarterly report for the fiscal quarter ending June 30.
Along with the new lease, Sana announced Snehal Patel has joined the biotech as senior vice president and head of manufacturing, while Julie Lepin has joined as senior vice president and head of regulatory, safety and quality. Patel was previously at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and Lepin was at Amgen Inc.
Sana, launched in 2019, went public through a $587.5 million initial public offering last year. The biotech focuses on gene repair and control, focusing on diseases ranging from leukemia to diabetes. Its treatments are all in the pre-clinical phase.
