Pennsylvania Biotech Firm to Open Office in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Aug. 13–Tengion Inc., a Pennsylvania biotechnology company, said yesterday that it plans to open a satellite office in the West Point Business Park in Winston-Salem early next year, hoping to capitalize on research being performed at Wake Forest University.

The business plans to open a $9-million research and development laboratory and office at 3929 Westpoint Blvd., said Gary Sender, Tengion’s chief financial officer. It will lease the space from Highwoods Properties, Inc, he said.

“It’s been our intention all along to really be in the area,” Sender said.

Tengion, based in King of Prussia, Pa., is a biotech company that develops cell tissues that can be used to create human organs. It is affiliated with Anthony Atala, a Wake Forest urologist who came to Wake Forest from Harvard University in the fall of 2003.

The company already licenses some of Atala’s research. Tengion’s local 20,000 square-foot office will primarily develop human bladders for organ transplants, company officials said.

Sender said that the company decided to expand to Winston-Salem specifically to be near Atala’s tissue-engineering research. He estimated the company will create about 20 jobs, which would pay an average salary of $70,000 a year.

The announcement of Tengion’s proposed office comes after a brief clash between city and county officials over an incentive package for the biotech company.

In May, the Winston-Salem City Council approved a $105,000 incentive package for Tengion, after the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners rejected the same package one week earlier.

The city money will be paid out over a five years, Sender said.

The company’s expansion in Winston-Salem could bring both jobs and prestige to the region, according to Gayle Anderson, president of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce.

The company’s presence could entice other biotechnology businesses interested in tissue-engineering research to open in the area, Anderson said.

“It’s another indication that our interest to attract and to grow these kinds of companies looks pretty solid,” Anderson said.

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