Page 91 - Innovation Delaware 2019

ADESIS LAB
Startups, scale-ups and support services build a strong innovation infrastructure
IBY PAM GEORGE
n 1991, CB Research and Development was founded in a 2,000-square-foot facility to synthesize specialized chemical compounds for drug-makers. There were three employees. That same year, Incyte was founded in Palo Alto, California,
to focus on genomics. After going public in 1993, the company added drug discovery to its business.
And, oh, how things have changed.
CB Research and Development — now Adesis — occupies more than 60,000 square feet on two Delaware sites. “We’re a real Delaware story — born and raised here,” says Andrew Cottone, president of Adesis, who began his career with CB Research and Development.
Propelled by the strong sales of its drug Jakafi, Incyte in 2014 moved its headquarters to the former John Wanamaker’s department store in Wilmington.
The two companies in many respects represent Delaware’s vast bioscience sector.
“We have a good community of startup companies that are product-oriented to larger companies like Incyte to supporting organizations like Agilent, which has instruments for biotech,” says Bill Provine, president and CEO of Delaware Innovation Space, located at the former DuPont Experimental Station. When many people hear the words “bioscience” and “bio- tech,” they often think of medical devices and pharmaceuti- cals, says Helen Stimson, president and CEO of the Delaware BioScience Association. “We still have that in Delaware — there’s no doubt about it,” she says. But “one of the largest segments are those companies that are suppliers to the life science industry.” These are the companies that “help make discoveries happen,” she explains.
IMPROVING HUMAN HEALTH
Sales of Incyte’s Jakafi remain strong. The drug is used to treat people with certain types of myelofibrosis, a rare form of chronic leukemia, and polycythemia vera, a slow-growing blood cancer. Incyte in February announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the review period for Jakafi to treat patients with acute graft-versus-host disease who’ve not responded well to corticosteroids.
Meanwhile, Gore’s biopharmaceutical division has released
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