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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

CytoImmune Therapeutics and Biosimilar Solutions Establish Puerto Rico Production Facilities

02/04/2021
CytoImmune Therapeutics Inc. will relocate its medical manufacturing complex to Toa Baja and Biosimilar Solutions will open its biotechnology campus in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Leveraging the Puerto Rico Incentives Code (Act 60) and other assets to set up Puerto Rico operations, both companies will perform novel biologics and cell therapy research and development. Both initiatives represent a combined investment of approximately $228 million and the creation of 400 jobs.

"This announcement is a clear indication that Puerto Rico's business ecosystem is primed to support bioscience innovation, manufacturing, and distribution on a global scale. It also shows that this sector is crucial to the Island's path to economic transformation since biotechnology start-ups can provide hundreds of jobs upon a successful FDA approval. We proudly welcome CytoImmune and Biosimilar to Puerto Rico and reiterate our commitment to helping them ensure success and a healthy ROI," said Rodrick Miller, CEO of InvestPR.

Biosimilar Sciences will establish a state-of-the-art biotech facility in Aguadilla with a $200 million investment in machinery and equipment. It will develop a series of biosimilar products, including a COVID-19 vaccine, new cell and gene therapy, biologics, clinical studies, and other recombinant biotechnologies. Biosimilar's current product portfolio has an approximate market value of $30 billion.

"We are excited to get to work in Puerto Rico, which supports our mission to make biologics affordable, accessible, and with uncompromising quality. There is no doubt about the Island's capabilities in the bioscience sector and we look forward to doing great things that help save lives. All of the stakeholders in Puerto Rico who helped make our presence here possible have been supportive, a reflection of the Island's commitment to performing on the highest level in terms of life science manufacturing and business development," said Robert Salcedo, cofounder and CEO of BioSimilar.

CytoImmune will settle in Toa Baja with a total $28 million investment including machinery and equipment and expects to hire up to 100 highly remunerated professionals. The company will be developing and marketing novel cancer immunotherapy products that use the patient's own immune system to eliminate cancer cells. Cytolmmune currently develops proprietary Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) engineered T cells (CAR-T) technology, as well as an approach for human natural killer (NK) cell immunotherapy that involves a CAR NK cell.

Rich Santulli, CytoImmune Chairman and CEO noted, "Puerto Rico has a proven history in the life science sector and a deep talent pool. It is plain to see that the environment in Puerto Rico is ideal for the development of our immunotherapies. "Puerto Rico's recently designated Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, Manuel Cidre Miranda, reiterated that "Puerto Rico continues to make significant progress in its path to economic transformation. Per our strategic plan, we continue to build on the Island's legacy in the bioscience sector by attracting top-tier manufacturers that are innovating on a large scale. Our value proposition for investment in this area supports the activities of all types of companies, enabling them with our human capital, infrastructure and favorable business climate."

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