MARINA DEL REY, CA-C3 Jian Inc., which develops drugs for the treatment of dental problems, will expand its headquarters from 10,000 square feet in Inglewood to 35,000 square feet here after signing a 10-year, $10 million lease for the new space. The company’s new headquarters, which will also house its research and development operations, is part of a 60,500-square-foot life science building at 4503 Glencoe Ave.

The building is owned by Hankey Investment Co., which was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle managing director Chris Strickfaden and Scott Dobbins, who is in-house with Hankey. The C3 space is in a life science building previously occupied by Abraxis that is part of the 11-acre, four-building Marina Business Center at the western end of the 90 Freeway. C3 was represented by Mathew Miller of CRESA Partners.

C3 Jian, in an announcement regarding its new facility, noted that the building is fully built out as first-class biotechnology research and development space, with manufacturing capacity. C3 Jian expects to complete some relatively minor tenant improvements to match its research and development requirements, with the goal of occupying the new facility in January 2012.

Todd Patrick, president and CEO of C3 Jian, commented on the move: “We looked at a number of impressive locations and facilities up and down the West Coast, and were very close to moving to Seattle or San Diego. Ultimately, we found the perfect facility for us very close to our current site, which means our employees will not have to relocate. That was the key factor in the decision.” Patrick added that C3 has found it can recruit workers into the new location, “which is critical as we continue to grow and mature into a product development company.”

C3 Jian anticipates filing an Investigational New Drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration for its lead product for dental caries, Sm STAMPs, by March 2012. The company, which started operating in 2007. C3 Jian, is a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) spin-off company, with a worldwide, exclusive license from the Regents of the University of California to a cell-signaling technology platform referred to as “STAMPs” or Specifically Targeted Antimicrobial Peptides. The company has used the STAMP platform to develop lead drug candidates targeting infectious diseases related primarily to oral health care. Dr. Wenyuan Shi, C3’s Chief Scientific Officer, is a co-founder of C3 Jian and chairman of oral biology at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Shi is the inventor of the STAMP platform.

In addition to the Marina del Rey location, C3 Jian’s wholly owned subsidiary, Sen Nuo Wei Biotechnology Co. Ltd., maintains an approximately 7,000-square-foot research and development and office facility in the Hi-Tech Development Zone of Chengdu, China. Sen Nuo Wei will build out fill/finish and formulation capabilities over the next several months so that C3 Jian will be in a position to produce and obtain registration of its products in China.

Sen Nuo Wei and C3 Jian also have a partnership with the West China School of Stomatology relative to the development and operation of the C3 Jian/West China Clinical Research Center located in Chengdu, China. The Clinical Research Center is an 8,000-square-foot facility designed to conduct human clinical trials of dental and other products that have the potential to improve oral health.