The 1.6m-square-feet of space is expected to enable the cooperation and the exchange of expertise between the companies that choose to be housed in these infrastructures
Last year, GSK sold its site near Philadelphia, US, to O’Neill Properties, which later became MLP Ventures and formed the Discovery Labs – a platform company providing infrastructure, labs and office space for life sciences and tech-enabled companies.
The Discovery Labs announced an investment of $500m (€441.68m) to redevelop the facilities, and has already established leasing agreements with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University, GlaxoSmithKline, Tosoh Biosciences and Crown Castle.
In addition, it is receiving “strong [further] interest, with 3m-square-feet of space currently in proposal and prospective tenants touring the campus daily”.
According to the company, this first Discovery Labs in King of Prussia will be the prototype for a global rollout of The Discovery Labs.
The laboratories are compliant with current good manufacturing practice (cGMP), offering wet and dry space for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to work in.
Apart from the laboratories, the facility includes open spaces, coffee shops and restaurants, a $10m conference center, video conferencing, a 275-seat auditorium, meeting and education rooms, and an outdoor amphitheatre.
The site houses IQ Connect, a company established by the Discovery Labs in partnership with The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, which provides human resources, venture capital, investment banking and other business services to life sciences companies.