The antiviral drug company Autonomous Therapeutics is relocating its headquarters to Rockville from New York City
Autonomous Therapeutics, a company that makes antiviral drugs, including some aimed at preventing the coronavirus, announced Thursday that it is relocating its headquarters to Rockville from New York City.
The company will be housed in a 17,700-square-foot space at 1530 E. Jefferson Street, according to a press release from the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC). The building is in back of the Congressional North Plaza shopping center on Rockville Pike.
Autonomous Therapeutics is developing medications to help prevent COVID-19, the flu and other respiratory illnesses, including other strains of coronavirus, according to the press release.
The Rockville headquarters will house the company’s research and development studies. The studies will move its therapeutics into the clinical trials stage before entering the market, the press release stated. The company has raised millions of dollars in public and private money to turn its drug candidates into “first-in-human” clinical trials.
Autonomous Therapeutics has 15 employees and will hire more than 50 scientists and engineers over the next three years, the press release stated.
It chose Rockville for its new headquarters because of its proximity to “leading U.S. researchers, regulators, and funders.”
Montgomery County is giving the company an $80,000 grant as part of its Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) program, which helps new businesses settle in the county. The city of Rockville will also contribute money through a similar program, the press release stated.
The MCEDC helped select a site for Autonomous Therapeutics and worked with the city of Rockville staff to coordinate the move.
Autonomous Therapeutics CEO Dr. Ariel Weinberger said in the press release that “expanding to Montgomery County has been an excellent outcome” for the company.
“We worked together to identify an ideal lab and manufacturing space from which to source top talent and to accelerate our COVID-19 work in a world-class biotech hub adjacent to leading organizations like NIH, BARDA, and the Department of Defense,” Weinberger said, referring to the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
MCEDC President and CEO Ben Wu said in the press release that Rockville’s proximity to so many federal agencies made Autonomous Therapeutics’ relocation to Rockville a “logical decision.”
“We’re also an epicenter for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) talent. A recent report from the Information Technology Industry Council confirmed that Montgomery County is a national leader with triple the national median of STEM workers, giving the company access to one of the strongest talent pools in the country,” he said.