Merger Fosters Biopharm Firm's HQ Deal in Lexington

Brammer Bio’s headquarters is now housed at 45 Hartwell Ave. in Lexington, MA.

LEXINGTON, MA— Brammer Bio, LLC , a fledgling biopharmaceutical firm that was recently formed through a merger deal with a Florida-based life sciences company, is establishing its corporate headquarters here. The company has leased the entire 45 Hartwell Ave. building in Lexington totaling 50,578 square feet, which is owned by Duffy Properties of Waltham, MA. The deal was announced by Cushman & Wakefield , which represented the building owner in the transaction. On March 31, Brammer Biopharmaceuticals announced its merger with Florida Biologix to create Brammer Bio, LLC, a cell and gene therapy biologics contract development and manufacturing organization. The merged company, which serves life science firms seeking to develop and commercialize cell and gene therapies. will combine technical expertise in process development and clinical manufacturing with demonstrated capabilities, operating approaches and quality standards required for commercial manufacturing, the company states. Ampersand Capital Partners of Wellesley, MA, the majority shareholder of Florida Biologix, made an additional investment in the combined company and is the only institutional investor in Brammer Bio. In its merger announcement, Brammer Bio stated that the combined company occupies 45,000 square feet of process development and phase one and two clinical manufacturing space in Alachua, FL and stated it was developing a 50,000-square-foot facility in Lexington, MA with plans to “build-out  large-scale, phase III/commercial ready viral vector manufacturing suites, segregated cell and gene therapy suites, and QC and analytical laboratories for clinical and commercial launch services.” The combined company’s management team is led by Mark Bamforth , president and CEO, and Steven Kasok , CFO who were previously co-founders of Gallus Biopharmaceuticals, and Dr. Richard Snyder , CSO, the founder of Florida Biologix, which was spun out of the University of Florida in 2015. Brammer Bio intends to double the process development and early-clinical capacity at its Florida location. Existing and future clients taking their gene and cell therapy projects to phase III and beyond will be supported at the Lexington, MA facility, the company states. Brammer Bio did not comment on the transaction. However, a representative did confirm to Globest.com that the offices at 45 Hartwell Ave. will serve as the company’s corporate headquarters. A formal announcement by Brammer Bio is expected later this week. “After its recent merger, Brammer Bio needed a space that would allow it to continue recruiting new clients and build relationships with existing clients,” says Steve Duffy , principal of Duffy Properties. “I look forward to watching as Brammer Bio continues to meet the development and manufacturing needs of the cell and gene therapy market from this location.” Cushman & Wakefield SVP Michael O’Leary , VP Kate Lien and executive managing director Duncan Gratton represented Duffy Properties in the transaction, while CBRE SVP and partner Curtis Cole and VP Alex Plaisted represented Brammer Bio in the deal. He tells Globest.com that Brammer Bio had been recently looking at other Duffy-owned buildings in Lexington, specifically 25 Hartwell Ave. (33,339-square feet) and 40 Hartwell Ave. (30,400 square feet), but pulled the trigger on the larger 45 Hartwell location once it became available. The 45 Hartwell location has the existing lab infrastructure the company desired. The space had been formerly occupied by Synta Pharmaceuticals , which announced on April 14 it had reached a definitive agreement to merge with Fort Washington, PA-based Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc . in an all stock transaction. O’Leary says that the space was on the market for about 14 days until it was leased by Brammer Bio. O’Leary adds that with the tight market for biotech-oriented space in Boston and Cambridge, Lexington has become a biotech hub in recent years and thus provides Brammer Bio with easy access to its clients and others in the biopharmaceutical sector in the Greater Boston area.