AstraZeneca has opened a new research and development (R&D) site in South San Francisco, California. This follows the company’s September 2016 announcement of plans to bring together five of its San Francisco Bay Area sites into one location in South San Francisco.

AstraZeneca employees from the Bay Area will now be located at a single facility in the Cove at Oyster Point, a San Francisco business park. AstraZeneca says more than 350 employees in the surrounding AstraZeneca R&D facilities will be moved to the new location. These employees will come from several AstraZeneca holdings: Acerta Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company in which AstraZeneca holds a major stake; MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s global biologics R&D arm; Pearl Therapeutics, an AstraZeneca company focused on inhaled small-molecule therapeutics; and AstraZeneca’s TIDE (Technology Innovation & Delivery Excellence) unit, which contributes to technology strategy, partnering in emerging areas, including sensors, mobile health, artificial intelligence, and new user interfaces.

The new site’s facilities include building space, lab space, and open lab design, including windows into labs from public spaces. The facilities’ design and architecture were arranged by HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, a design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm with experience in designing biotechnology facilities.

Source: AstraZeneca