Spark Therapeutics to add up to 500 jobs in West Philadelphia expansion

Spark Therapeutics Inc. said Thursday it is expanding its research-and-development operations in West Philadelphia in a move expected to create nearly 500 high-paying jobs.

The gene therapy company spun out of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is getting a $2 million Department of Community and Economic Development grant and a $7.5 million grant from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to support the project.

Spark’s new site will be located on Market Street in Brandywine Realty Trust’s $3 billion Schuylkill Yards development project with Drexel University. The company’s existing offices are at 3737 Market Street.

“This expansion is proof of our continued commitment to research, development, and innovation in West Philadelphia and of our determination to offer new genetic treatments for people living with genetic diseases,” said Co-founder and CEO Jeffrey D. Marrazzo.

Read more at bizjournals.com

Six Irish men to share $635m after sale of drug firm
Irish Times Business

Adapt Pharma’s Narcan spray used in the front line of opioid crisis in United States

Six Irish businessmen will share a $635 million (€542m) payday after selling a company that developed a drug used in the frontline as the United States battles an opioid crisis.

Waterford entrepreneur Seamus Mulligan and his team invested €115 million to set up Adapt Pharma just over four years ago. Their team focused on a drug, Naloxone, that has been in use for many years and is commonly used in hospital anaesthesia.

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