St. Louis-based clinical-stage biotechnology startup Wugen, which has raised more than $200 million in venture funding as it develops cancer-fighting drugs, has opened its new office in the Central West End’s Cortex innovation district.
The four-year old startup on Wednesday held a ribbon cutting event for its new office at 4260 Forest Park Ave., offering a peek into its new 18,000-square-foot facility. Wugen’s new headquarters, formerly occupied by financial services company Block (NYSE: SQ), includes office and laboratory space for the fast-growing startup.
Founded in 2018, Wugen is developing “off the shelf” cell therapies to treat various cancers. The startup was created via technology licensed from Washington University and is developing so-called natural killer and T-cell therapies. It has approximately 90 employees, with about 60 located in St. Louis. It also has an office in San Diego.
While Wugen celebrated the new office Wednesday, CEO Dan Kemp said it started operating there in August. Kemp declined to disclose Wugen’s buildout costs at its new headquarters or the length of its lease there. Cortex owns the building at 4260 Forest Park Ave., which also includes pharmaceutical company Alcami Corp. and restaurant Vicia as tenants.
Wugen didn't move far. It was previously located in a different Cortex space inside the BioSTL Building at 4340 Duncan Ave., where it will maintain a small presence. Kemp said renovations at the new facility started in early 2022 and progressed quickly, allowing the company to move into the space later in the year.
“It really was a fast turnaround — six months — to take it from a shell to a fully functional biotech office,” he said.
WUGEN
Scroll through the gallery above to take a look inside Wugen's new headquarters
Wugen’s new headquarters comes as Kemp says the startup is on a “very rapid trajectory.” It raised $172 million from investors in 2021 as part of a Series B financing and currently has two drug candidates in clinical trials. Kemp credits the company’s home in St. Louis for its ability to quickly advance its drug candidates.
“I think it’s a very great reflection of the talent in St. Louis,” he said. “I’ve been stunned with the talent level. Most people in the country, they recognize Boston and San Francisco as key biotech hubs, and San Diego (too). I can tell you in St. Louis there’s a talent pool that is pretty spectacular.”
In addition to hiring locally, Wugen also counts St. Louis-based investors as financial supporters, including RiverVest Venture Partners, BioGenerator and Lightchain Capital.
Cortex President and CEO Sam Fiorello said Wednesday that Wugen provides an ideal example of how regional assets can propel homegrown startups, noting the startup’s origins at Washington University, support from local investors and its ability to expand within Cortex.
“We need to do that over and over again,” Fiorello said.
