Monday, March 30, 2009

EMD Serono to hire 50 in new Cambridge lab

By Mass High Tech staff

Rockland-based biopharmaceutical EMD Serono Inc. has announced plans to open a research facility in Cambridge that will accommodate up to 50 scientists. The laboratory space will be used to conduct research in neurobiology, pharmacology and chemistry.

The lab will measure about 18,000 square feet and operate as a satellite facility to EMD Serono’s Rockland space and Billerica laboratory.

The company is in the process of expanding its Billerica location, a protein production facility, announced last year and expected to be completed in 2010. The research and development site, considered a “center of excellence in discovery,” will add 120,000 square feet of space to bring EMD Serono’s total lab space to 210,000 square feet. The announcement last April said the company planned to invest $50 million in the facility expansion and also expected to add more than 100 workers.

EMD Serono, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, said its oral multiple sclerosis drug, cladribine, may be filed for registration this year, while the company will focus its research on Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.