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April 28, 2005 Endocyte moves operations to Purdue Technology Center; celebrates anchor positionWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Endocyte Inc. today (Thursday, April 28) held an open house to showcase its new, state-of-the-art facilities in the Purdue Research Park's newly expanded flagship incubator.
The biotechnology firm, which develops receptor- targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, now holds the anchor tenant position for the Purdue Technology Center's 45,000-square-foot wing, located at 3000 Kent Ave. The open house included tours of the close to 14,000-square-foot facility and remarks were made by Philip Low, Purdue's Joseph F. Foster Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and leader of the team that discovered the treatment; West Lafayette Mayor Jan Mills; and Endocyte's president and CEO P. Ron Ellis. The facility features a development chemistry manufacturing scale-up lab, a separate cell-culture lab to isolate in vitro cell testing, additional hood space, and more equipment for sample analysis and purification. "In our former building, our employees were spread out from one another," Ellis said. "We are now in a common area that allows our work processes to flow more efficiently. In addition, we have the needed space to hire more employees to support the development of our receptor-targeted therapeutics. We would like to thank Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation for the support they have given us in making this building a reality." The open house came on the heels of an announcement earlier this week that Endocyte will open a satellite office at INTECH Park on the northwest side of Indianapolis. The satellite office will give Endocyte a presence in Indianapolis and help with recruitment of life sciences job candidates. Founded in 1996, Endocyte is developing a new generation of receptor-targeted therapeutics, or smart drugs, for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Current non-targeted drugs are toxic to normal healthy cells, causing serious side effects. Receptor-targeted therapeutics are more effective because they can be targeted with lethal precision to the diseased cells. Endocyte's initial focus is on attaching drugs to folic acid. The vitamin acts like a "Trojan Horse" to target and deliver drugs to cancer cells, thus allowing higher and more effective doses to be given with reduced side effects. In 2003 the company secured $15 million in Series C financing Paul Shepson, Head Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907 |
