Dec. 04--Less than a year after spinning off from Baxter International, Baxalta has opened a new research and development center in the Boston area, becoming the latest player to tap into one of the nation's premier biotech regions for scientific talent.
The opening, announced Thursday, is the latest step in a busy year for the newly independent company, which makes products that treat rare bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies and cancer. Baxalta said its Global Innovation Center in Cambridge will house about 500 workers by the end of the year.
A "very small number" of workers were transferred from the Chicago area. Baxalta said it has no plans to move a large number of workers from Illinois to Massachusetts. "There is no planned migration," spokesman Geoffrey Mogilner said.
About half of the workers at the new R center were transferred from other R locations in California and Europe, and the other half will be new hires, the company said. Cambridge is home to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, and hundreds of biotech companies and thousands of researchers.
Baxalta has about 800 workers at its corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Bannockburn. It is also opening an office on West Madison Street in downtown Chicago that will house an unspecified number of workers.
The company employs 16,000 people worldwide. The Massachusetts location will be home to the company's R center, along with its cancer, biosimilars and business development divisions. Northern Illinois will continue to serve as its corporate headquarters and home to its hematology and immunology functions.
Other large drugmakers, including Pfizer, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly already have large research centers in Cambridge or have recently announced plans to set up shop there. In September, AbbVie confirmed that it had leased about 43,000 square feet of research space in Cambridge but said no jobs would be transferred from its North Chicago headquarters.
jrussell@tribpub.com
