MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Be The Match Biotherapies® today announced expanded support for clients in the Northern California region. Chris McClain, Senior Vice President, will work from the San Francisco area to support an expanding client base seeking high-quality cellular source material for allogeneic therapy development and commercialization to deliver time-critical cell therapies to patients.

”Be The Match has been a leader in the supply of clinical grade allogeneic donor cells for over 30 years and has been supplying GMP compliant cellular starting material to developers of allogeneic cell therapy platforms since 2016. We could not be more excited to deepen our strategic focus on these emerging therapies and to work more closely with developers of those therapies located in the San Francisco area and on the west coast more broadly,” said Chris McClain, Senior Vice President at Be The Match Biotherapies.”

Since 2016 Be The Match Biotherapies has provided cell sourcing and supply chain management services for the development of allogeneic cell therapies. It successfully delivered its first cellular starting material for manufacture only two months after engaging with its first client. The organization is a trusted partner to over 50 cell and gene therapy developers ranging from small, start-ups to large international enterprises.

Chris McClain leads the sales and business development team for Be The Match Biotherapies. In this role, he engages with companies developing innovative, life-saving therapies that can leverage the cell sourcing, clinical research services, and outcomes tracking capabilities of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) / Be The Match.

Before joining Be the Match Biotherapies, Chris was co-founder of Nora Therapeutics, Inc., a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies in areas of significant unmet medical need in reproductive health. He served as an advisory member of the University of Minnesota Office for Technology Commercialization Venture Center, a guest lecturer in the Life Sciences program at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson Graduate School of Management, a mentor to the annual MNCup startup competition, and a co- chair of Medical Alley’s Biotech Shared Interest Group. He earned his master’s in business administration and his bachelor’s in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Be The Match Biotherapies

Be The Match Biotherapies is the only cell and gene therapy solutions provider with customizable services to support the end-to-end cell therapy supply chain. Backed by the industry-leading experience of the National Marrow Donor Program®/Be The Match® and a research partnership with the CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®), the organization designs solutions that advance the development of cell and gene therapies across the globe.

Be The Match Biotherapies is dedicated to accelerating patient access to life-saving cell and gene therapies by providing high-quality cellular source material from the Be The Match Registry®, the world’s most diverse registry of more than 7 million potential blood stem cell donors. Through established relationships with apheresis, marrow collection, and transplant centers worldwide, the organization develops, onboards, trains, and manages expansive collection networks to advance cell therapies. Be The Match Biotherapies uses a proven infrastructure consisting of regulatory compliance and managed logistics experts and cell therapy supply chain case managers to successfully transport and deliver regulatory-compliant life-saving therapies across the globe. Through the CIBMTR, Be The Match Biotherapies extends services beyond the cell therapy supply chain to include long-term follow-up tracking for the first two FDA-approved CAR-T therapies.

For more information, visit www.BeTheMatchBiotherapies.com or follow Be The Match Biotherapies on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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Innovative national builder hires experienced real estate and construction professional to spearhead client relations and support expansion into strategic sectors

SAN FRANCISCO, September 27, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Suffolk, one of the largest and most innovative real estate and construction enterprises in the country, has hired Alex Barake as business development director to support and strengthen strategic partnerships and client development , and bolster the Suffolk San Francisco team. Mr. Barake will oversee business development in San Francisco as the company continues its growth and expansion throughout Northern California and delivers sophisticated, world-class projects. Suffolk has successfully managed complex building construction projects in high-growth sectors, including mixed-use residential, life sciences, higher education, mission critical and data centers, commercial, aviation/transportation and government, among others.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220927005201/en/

Alex Barake joins Suffolk San Francisco as business development director to oversee strategic partnerships and client development. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Alex’s impressive background and experience in business development is a key component of Suffolk’s growth strategy as we strive towards our ambitious expansion goals in Northern California,” said Tony Rango, President of Suffolk’s West Region. “We are excited Alex has joined our team and we look forward to working closely with him as we strengthen our client relationships, expand our project portfolio and strengthen our brand presence in the region.”

Mr Barake has more than ten years of partnership development experience in the real estate development and construction space. In his previous positions, Mr. Barake has supported his firms’ expansion in a variety of sectors, including complex, large-scale residential, mixed-use, higher education and hospitality developments. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a commitment and passion for community involvement, team building, external partnership management and client relations.

Story continues

Suffolk has continued to expand its portfolio in the Bay Area with many on-going projects, including Garden Gate Tower, a 23-story residential building in downtown San Jose; 600 7th Street, a 200 affordable housing unit complex in San Francisco; University of California, San Francisco, which includes a demolition and abatement of the school’s original campus at Parnassus Heights; 1900 Broadway, a 40-story residential mixed-use tower in downtown Oakland; and other sophisticated, high-profile projects.

For more information, visit www.suffolk.com.

AboutSuffolk

Suffolk is a national enterprise that invests, innovates and builds. Suffolk is an end-to-end business that provides value throughout the entire project lifecycle by leveraging its core construction management services with vertical service lines that include real estate capital investment, design, self-perform construction services, technology start-up investment and innovation research/development.

Suffolk is a national company with $5.0 billion in annual revenue, 2,500 employees and main offices in Boston (headquarters), New York, Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Estero, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Suffolk serves clients in every major industry sector, including healthcare, science and technology, education, gaming, transportation/aviation, mission critical and commercial. Suffolk is privately held and is led by founder, chairman and CEO John Fish. Suffolk is ranked #23 on the Engineering News Record list of “Top 400 Contractors.” For more information, visit www.suffolk.com and follow Suffolk on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220927005201/en/

Contacts

Dan Antonellis, 617-517-4232, DAntonellis@suffolk.com

The post Suffolk San Francisco Hires Alex Barake to Oversee Strategic Partnerships and Consumer Growth for Continued Regional Progress appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

With new housing development in San Francisco slowed to a crawl, Mayor London Breed is looking into whether reducing affordable requirements or deferring fees might get residential building job sites up and running again.

On Friday, Breed’s office called for the reconvening of the “technical advisory committee” that is supposed to periodically revisit the city’s inclusionary affordable housing program — which requires market-rate developers to either include affordable units, pay a fee or dedicate land. The eight-person committee, which includes four mayoral and four Board of Supervisors appointees, has not met since February 2018.

Breed spokesman Jeff Cretan said that rising construction costs, high inflation and interest rates, along with a sluggish pandemic recovery “make it an absolutely appropriate time to look at our policies so we can ensure that we are building the most housing, including affordable housing, that is possible.”

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who co-sponsored the most recent version of the city’s affordable housing mandates, said “it’s definitely time to reconvene” the committee.

The push comes as the city is seeing declines at all points in the housing production cycle. Few new buildings are opening. Active construction sites are way down. And applications for new projects are few and far between.

During the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, city economist Ted Egan and Land Use Program Manager Joshua Switzky delivered a mostly grim outlook for future housing development as well as office occupancy in downtown San Francisco.

Housing proposed for Schlage Lock land at Bayshore Boulevard and Leland Avenue in SF remains stalled.

Paul Kuroda/Special to The Chronicle 2021

So far this year San Francisco has had 1,161 units completed, putting the city on pace to see fewer than 3,000 new homes. Compare that to 2021 when 4,649 units came online. Meanwhile, there are 4,100 units under construction, compared to the high of 10,000 units that were being built in 2016 or 2017.

The future doesn’t look much better. So far in 2022, about 800 units have been approved, with a projected 2,000 by the year’s end — or just about half of the 10-year average.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of approved units are languishing as the cost of building has outpaced revenues that can be generated through rents or sales. Rents in San Francisco are still 14% below what they were pre-pandemic, while construction costs have gone up, Egan said.

And developers still have to pay a wide range of fees, depending on the size of the project, where it is and whether the builder is taking advantage of any of the “density bonus” programs. For example, fees on a 24-unit project developer Marc Babsin has won approvals for in Diamond Heights would exact $261,000 in fees per unit, while the builder of a stalled project at 11th and Folsom would pay about $75,000 a unit.

“We have been hearing more and more that the inclusionary numbers don’t work today,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safai. “We need to reset it. It’s an impediment.”

Much of the city’s housing pipeline remains clogged. There are 14 projects comprising 2,257 units that were entitled in 2018 or 2019 and have not started construction. While progress is being made on two phased mega-projects — Treasure Island and Mission Rock — several major projects remain stalled, including a 6,000-unit expansion of Parkmerced, 12,000 units at the Shipyard and Candlestick Point, and 1,679 units at Schlage Lock. In addition, the 8,550 units expected to be generated in large projects alongside the future Central Subway are stalled.

Developer Eric Tao, on the committee looking at fees and requirements, said he is hoping for a repeat of what happened in 2010, during the Great Recession, when late Mayor Ed Lee brought together a group of developers, building trades leaders, lawmakers and advocates to figure out how to get construction started again.

In the end, the city lowered affordable housing requirements and deferred 80% of fees so developers paid when residents moved into a building, rather than when construction permits were obtained. This change jump-started several noteworthy projects, including the 655-unit Lumina project at 201 Folsom St., a condo development that also included 198 affordable units at 1400 Mission.

“What happened is we all came together and came up with some tools,” Tao said. “I think we need to do that again. It seems like it’s harder now – everything is more politicized.”

The key is to find a “sweet spot” that Tao called “maximum feasible affordability.”

“We are not saying get rid of (fees), we are just saying defer them until we can get the thing built and stabilized,” said Tao.

Mira condo tower (middle) at 160 Folsom St. in San Francisco couldn’t be built today because of prohibitive costs and fees, says the building’s developer.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle 2019

Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting featured a number of builders and real estate attorneys who outlined the challenges the industry faces.

Sarah Dennis-Phillips, a senior director for Tishman Speyer, said the group’s most recent building, the 392-unit Mira, which opened in 2020, wouldn’t work financially today. Tishman Speyer has an approved project at the former Creamery cafe site South of Market, but that project is not feasible.

“The costs are simply too high to generate an acceptable return,” said Dennis-Phillips, who is also on the committee looking into fees.

JK Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

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The City of Oakland is providing this information as courtesy to interested members of the public.

On June 2, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) will hold a special meeting to take public comments on an application by the Oakland Athletics to amend the San Francisco Bay Plan and Seaport Plan to remove the Port Priority Use Area designation at Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland in the City of Oakland. There will be no vote on the amendment at this meeting.

The meeting begins at 9 am with the option to participate virtually and in-person, and public comments will begin at approximately 10 am after initial presentations by representatives from the Oakland A’s, Port of Oakland, and City of Oakland. For detailed meeting information, including the agenda and location and links to meeting documents, please visit https://bcdc.ca.gov/cm/2022/06-02-agenda.html.

Background

As part of the regulatory reviews that the Howard Terminal project must undergo, the A’s have proposed an amendment to the Seaport Plan and the Bay Plan to remove the port priority use for the Howard Terminal Site. AB 1191, signed into law by the Governor in 2019, establishes a deadline for BCDC to determine whether to remove the Project site from the Seaport Plan’s port priority use designation and make conforming changes to the Bay Plan. The proposed amendments would affect Figure 4 in the Seaport Plan and Bay Plan Map 5.

On May 2, 2022, the BCDC staff preliminarily recommended that the Commission amend the San Francisco Bay and Seaport Plans to remove the port priority use designation from Howard Terminal. The Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposed amendment on June 30.

The removal of the Port Priority Use Designation is not a vote on the stage nor of the merits of the proposed project. Instead, it is a vote on whether the Commission believes that Howard Terminal will be needed to meet current and future cargo needs, and if taking Howard out of Port Priority Use may lead to a future need for bay fill.

BCDC staff invited the A’s to present supplementary information regarding the Port of Oakland’s capacity to meet Year 2050 forecasted demand by cargo type – container, dry bulk and Ro-Ro – without the Howard property or the need for Bay Fill.

Additional resources:

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is in the process of developing a “One VA” complex in Alameda, California. The 624 acres of property was acquired from the Department of the Navy in 2014 after the closure of Naval Air Station Alameda in 1996.

When completed, it will serve an estimated 270,000 Veterans in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Facilities on the site will include a 158,000 square foot Community Based Outpatient Clinic, a National Cemetery Columbarium that will have the potential to hold the remains of 300,000 Veterans and spouses, and a Veterans Benefits Service Center to help bring the many VA programs to the many Veterans residing in the area. The project has been authorized by Congress with the US Army Corps of Engineers overseeing construction.

The property boasts a picturesque view of the City of San Francisco skyline and the Bay Bridge connecting Oakland to San Francisco. In acquiring this unique parcel of land, the VA committed to overseeing 512 acres as a conservation management area. In cooperation with the USFWS the conservation management area supports several species of birds to include one of the most important nesting sites for the California Least Tern, an endangered species.

Currently, the site is not open to the public. Once the project is complete, the National Cemetery and the Clinic will have scheduled hours of operation. In cooperation with the City of Alameda and the East Bay Regional Park District, the Bay Trail system is planned to connect to the site and extend around the perimeter of the property.

Additional information on the project is available on the downloadable fact sheets.

News Release: USACE Awards Wetland Mitigation Contract for New Alameda VA Facility

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In San Francisco, the 5M Development Envisions Public and Private Space for the Future

Courtesy of BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES

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https://www.archdaily.com/980517/in-san-francisco-the-5m-development-envisions-public-and-private-space-for-the-future

The chance to reimagine a four-and-a-half-acre site containing both historic buildings to be preserved and lots slated for development in a major American city is rare. For the team behind 5M, a project on a nodal site in downtown San Francisco, this prospect came with exciting potential to engage with all aspects of community building and place making. Completed by SITELAB, KPF, and a host of other firms, 5M reveals a transformed, multi-use downtown site following a decade-long process.

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Significant urban design projects on the scale of 5M are “about how you string together the opportunities so that you gain momentum and gain more of the critical mass and power. It’s not about one thing acting by itself,” says Laura Crescimano, cofounder and principal of the San Francisco-based urban design firm SITELAB Urban Studio, which began work on the site a decade ago. “And that’s the same way we think about the design process.”

Developed and operated by Brookfield Properties, 5M is located at between 5th, Mission, and Howard streets in a public transit–rich area. It opened to the public with an ambitious agenda on multiple fronts. The phase of construction completed last month includes the 640,000-square-foot, 25-story 415 Natoma office building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, The George apartments by Ankrom Moisan, The Parks at 5M, the historic Dempster printing building, and the Camelline building . Cultural programming will activate the landscaped outdoor park that contains a dedicated performance area. The over 300 units completed thus far include both affordable and market rate housing, with more to come. 5M also factors in the over 200,000 square feet of existing office space contained within the historic San Francisco Chronicle and adjacent Examiner buildings owned by the Hearst Corporation, which partnered with Brookfield on the entitlement process.

415 Natoma by Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects rises above the surrounding low- and mid-rise neighborhoods. The project was aimed at stitching the development into the urban fabric of SoMa. Photo by KYLE JEFFERS. Image Courtesy of KPF

Crescimano points to how “the idea of ​​developing truly mixed use,” beyond simply placing retail on the ground floor with residences and/or offices above, was foundational. 5M would be a snapshot of a dynamic city and a nuanced particular place in west SoMa, where old and new are juxtaposed thanks to “that stitching together and honoring the history of place,” she says. The area is home to a longstanding Filipino community and has a connection to labor history, among other significant threads.

Designers, planners and community advocates set out “to create that density and mix of uses that draws from the character here, which is a little funkier, more playful and creative,” Crescimano notes. Prioritizing elements like pedestrian needs, inclusivity and scale for all users and neighbors meant trying to be “embedded and not about creating an island.” In that sense, 5M should meet the needs of its immediate residents and tenants and be a resource for neighbors and even casual passers-by.

415 Natoma. Photo by KYLE JEFFERS. Image Courtesy of KPFThe George at 5M is one of the development’s other towers. Image Courtesy of BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES, JEFFREY MART

Extensive public outreach that included the newly formed 5M Community Advisory Committee shaped every physical and intangible aspect. “Even though it is not necessarily the fastest process, those voices make a project better,” Crescimano says of the charettes and forums organized by SITELAB Urban Studio and local partners. Changes to 5M included materials and colors, and types and diversity of seating. Public performances and programming overseen in part by CAST (Community Arts Stabilization Trust), which is located in donated space at the Dempster Building along with other non-profit cultural and arts organizations, is another community benefit. Instead of using public arts funding to commission “a sculpture and that’s the end of it,” these privately owned public parks can be “more dynamic.” (Firms !melk and Cliff Lowe Associates served as the project landscape architects.)

Trent Tesch, design principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox, echoes the value of public input, which in addition to other considerations, shifted the physical arrangement of 5M over the course of planning and entitlements. The 5M master plan contained guidelines helping regulate articulation, color and texture of new buildings. Wind testing also changed final decisions about where buildings would be sited, and with regard to determining setbacks, “this was fine tuning, and crafting a very bespoke building,” he says of 415 Natoma.

The narrative of the contemporary workplace is being rewritten in our current moment, but there were certain things that the design team was certain about. “There was a real desire not to do another building that’s just a glass box,” Tesch explains. (The team also included House & Robertson Architects.) On this parcel between 5th, Howard, Natoma and Mary streets surrounded by notable eclecticism, “we really pushed hard to make sure we were doing a building that had a lot of character and fabric on the.” The result contains an intimate lobby and series of bays along Mary Street that make for a “more inclusive” building that invests “more on the alley structure of San Francisco as opposed to the major grid,” he adds.

Courtesy of SITELAB URBAN STUDIO

The podium on the tenth floor of 415 Natoma contains two decks with contrasting, distinct views of the city and the San Francisco Bay. The tower then splits into two articulated volumes of different heights that nonetheless remain visually connected. “The idea is they hug each other,” Tesch says. KPF devised what Tesch describes as a “seven and three” system based on a 10-foot module that wraps the facade; seven of the 10 feet are glass and the others opaque, compared to a typical five-foot module on an office tower. The eliminated mullion means “you register the seven-foot window. To me, it’s a more elegant solution.”

As San Franciscans begin to visit, live in and experience the multiple features and spaces at 5M, the team’s early commitment will help spark conversations that address questions here and beyond. “What is our daily routine? What do we want out of our cities? Nobody wants a generic place. There’s a shared value in connecting to local culture and community,” SITELAB Urban Studio’s Crescimano says. “I think that puts this project in a position to fulfill the way the city can evolve.”

Photo by KYLE JEFFERS. Image Courtesy of KPFPhoto by KYLE JEFFERS. Image Courtesy of KPF

This article was originally published in Metropolis.

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A seven-story, 262-unit apartment building has been proposed in South San Francisco to occupy a site at 1477 Huntington Ave. The development will be discussed Nov. 15 during a special meeting between both the City Council and city Planning Commission.

To be built on a 1.98-acre lot, plans for the building envision a “vibrant apartment community” helping to transform the area into “an enlivened, walkable urban community near transit, services and amenities.”

The surrounding area is largely low-density commercial buildings, so the project would signify a big shift in land use for the neighborhood. The site is within a half a mile of the San Bruno BART station.

Per the cities rules, 39 units, or 15% of the project, would be affordable to those earning 50% to 80% of the area median income, meaning units designed for a household of two would be rented for $1,827 to $2,927, according to estimates based on the San Mateo County Department of Housing’s figures. The city requires at least one-third of the affordable units to be reserved for those earning 50% of the median income.

A parking garage would include 309 spaces, 10% capable of electric vehicle charging. The development would have 144 bicycle parking spaces.

Plans further indicate a fitness center, dog park and rooftop deck among other amenities. Units are described as having “high quality, Class A interiors,” with the majority of units including private outdoor patios or decks.

Developer Infill Land Partners LLC will need a general plan amendment among other approvals for the project to proceed, given the site’s current designation for commercial use. The site is currently a single-story office building leased by AT&T.

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The South San Francisco City Council this week reluctantly granted initial approvals to allow a 480-unit housing development despite concerns that the project will not use union labor.

The development will consist of two seven-story buildings slated for 100 Produce Ave. and 124 Airport Blvd. with a combined 743,700 square feet. Last month, councilmembers stopped short of granting the approvals, hoping the developer, Hanover Company, would agree to employ union carpenters. While an agreement was reached for the project to use electric water heaters, also among previous council concerns, union carpenters, a Hanover representative said, would not be hired due to added costs.

“This is not a perfect project by any means, this is not a good project, this is not a stellar project,” Council member Eddie Flores said. “I want other folks, other projects to learn from the mistakes from Hanover, and to do better.”

But with a 4-1 vote, councilmembers ultimately conceded the benefits would outweigh the cost as the site near downtown, currently 1980s-era light-industrial buildings surrounded by parking lots, would likely remain in its current state for the foreseeable future if the proposal was rejected.

Councilmember Mark Addiego said that while he was too concerned with the lack of union labor, the new development would generate upwards of $2.5 million annually, a massive jump from the estimated $200,000 tax revenue from current use. That, combined with $11.7 million the developer would pay in impact fees, would benefit the community in many ways, he said.

“It’s all of those things that I’m weighing tonight because I have that great fear that Hanover will tuck their tail and run back to Texas and [the property owner] will operate offices and warehouses from yesteryear for a very long time,” Addiego said.

The development is planned to contain 15% below market rate units, 60 units in total with 40 units affordable to people earning 80% of the area median income and 20 units affordable to people earning the area median income. Units suitable for a household of two in these categories would cost approximately $2,927 and $2,992 per month, respectively.

South San Francisco Chief Planner Tony Rozzi noted the challenges associated with the site, including the adjacent train tracks, major roads, freeway and on-ramp. Nell Selander, deputy director for the city’s Economic and Community Development Department, also pointed to “market realities associated with redeveloping an occupied and high-value site.”

“All of the easy sites are gone, they have been developed,” Rozzi said. “The sites that we have left that we are trying to provide housing on require creativity and flexibility, certainly on our part.”

The development will provide various “community benefits” in addition to the impact fees — among them upgrades to surrounding roads and improvement to a nearby pedestrian tunnel under the train tracks. Those, plus the electrification of water heaters, would cost another $7 million, Scott Youdall, a development partner at Hanover, said.

Youdall estimated the use of union carpenters would cost an additional $15 million to $20 million.

Mayor Mark Nagales queried whether Hanover could include less parking in the development and instead hire union workers, adding that the priority should be on housing “people not cars,” especially given the project’s location a half mile from the South San Francisco Caltrain station and 1 miles from a BART station. The first two floors of both buildings will be parking garages totaling 560 spaces, and according to the developer, removing parking would require an entire redesign.

“If you had listened from the beginning and reduced your parking spots further, you would actually have saved money and maybe we would have been able to hire local workers here,” said Nagales, who requested that future projects near transit place a reduced emphasis on providing parking.

“I’m upset, I’m angry, because this city has a reputation for building affordable housing, that’s what we’re known for up and down the county,” he said, addressing Hanover. “We also have a reputation of supporting our men and women of labor and I just feel like you put us in a corner, and I’m absolutely upset because of that.”

Council member James Coleman, who voted against the project, said that while housing was “very necessary,” it should not be built “at all costs.”

“I do want to move forward, but I don’t want to leave anybody behind, and so I’m in this tough situation,” he said.

The developer next will seek entitlement approvals from the city.

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Today, DNA testing companies can help people determine everything from where their ancestors lived to what foods they might have a genetic predisposition to evolve

23andMe was one of the first companies to cause a sensation in 2006 offers autosomal DNA testing for the average consumer. Individuals could send in a cheek swab and have a full breakdown of their DNA in a matter of weeks. It started out as a tool for determining parentage and has evolved over time.

Over the past nearly 15 years, the company has amassed a huge database of genetic material. His latest endeavor could change the medical industry’s perspective on further drug development. Why is 23andMe getting involved in drug development and how could it help shape the future of medicine?

The concept of pharmacogenomics

It is often joked that medicine is called a practice for a reason, but when it comes down to it, there are many trials and errors in determining which drugs will work best for a particular patient. There are many variables to consider – some of them are invisible and can hide in a person’s genome. This is where the practice of pharmacogenomics comes into play.

For those unfamiliar with science, pharmacogenomics is “the study of a person’s unique genetic makeup” affects their response to medication. “A person’s genome can determine how drugs are given and how effective the results are. This is incredibly common with psychiatric drugs. It can take several tries to find something that can effectively treat depression or other chemical imbalances in the brain. Pharmacogenomics eliminates the trial and error process and makes it easier to find the perfect drug to get the best results.

This type of pharmaceutical research relies on many very sensitive variables. Anything from slight changes in temperature to oil spill from air compressors can ruin an experiment and cause researchers to try again. Commercial quality air and nitrogen compressors can help avoid these problems and allow researchers studying pharmacogenomics to complete their work. It doesn’t eliminate all of the variables that could potentially affect an experiment, but it does provide some control.

Mergers and acquisitions

In 2018, 23andMe partnered with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to improve the likelihood of success in new drug developments and studies. Previous studies showed that only approx 10% of the new molecular candidates have traditionally been approved for drug trials, and the introduction of genetic support can nearly double the potential for approval.

In 2020, the joint efforts of GSK and 23andMe made progress potential first-in-class cancer treatment. They used genetic data from consumers who chose to have their genetic information used for scientific research.

23andMe went public in 2021, and while its stock started off low – around the $ 10 mark – this push into drug development means investors can expect the company to be a great long-term investment option. GSK and 23andMe currently have an immuno-oncology drug in Phase 1 trials. If it proves successful, investing in this type of collaboration could be a wise decision to move forward.

This type of drug development could become the standard in the future, with the potential to turn the entire biotech industry on the head. Right now, drug development – much like prescribing the above psychiatric drugs – is a lot of trial and error. Tools like that huge genetic database that 23andMe has accumulated over the years could be invaluable.

There are some additional steps involved here, such as contacting people who have not yet decided to use their genetic information for drug research. However, the hurdles are not insurmountable.

view in the future

Pharmacogenomics is still in its infancy, but this science could transform the way the medical industry explores new drugs and treatments. 23andMe isn’t the only company that has been collecting genetic information for decades, but it is the only company that is actively working to use that information for the benefit of humankind. While the industry is still a long way from developing individualized drugs or treatments based on a person’s genetics, the potential is there. This is an exciting time to work in drug discovery and medical development.

Pharmacogenomics has the potential to change the way new drugs and treatments are discovered. Still, the fact that it relies on genetic information – something people must choose to use – presents some hurdles to the widespread adoption of this type of research. When genetic information becomes valuable, it can become a salable good – but that’s a conversation for another time.

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – A large mixed-use project in South San Francisco that will include a new Safeway store is advancing the purchase of a select lot for development by a real estate company.

Steelwave, a seasoned developer acting through a subsidiary, has purchased a large lot at 180 El Camino Real in South San Francisco on which the project is to be built, according to documents filed with the San Mateo County Real Estate Agency.

The subsidiary paid $ 98 million for the package and bought the 14.5-acre site from Shamaim LLC, according to district documents filed on Dec. 28.

Newmark brokers Steven Golubchik, Nicholas Bicardo, Edmund Najera, Jonathan Schaefler and Darren Hollak arranged the real estate transaction, the commercial real estate company said.

“180 El Camino was one of the few remaining opportunities to grow in South San Francisco,” said Golubchik, a Newmark vice chairman and head of the real estate company’s Northern California Capital Markets Unit. Golubchik added that the property had received “robust” interest from potential buyers.

The Steelwave entity completed the property purchase through a cash deal, according to the county records.

According to the planning documents of South San Francisco, one of the heart of the project will be a new Safeway store.

“The revitalization of this property has been in the works for many years, but it’s worth the wait,” South San Francisco Mayor Mark Addiego said in a prepared announcement.

The new Safeway store will be approximately 63,700 square feet, city officials said.

An existing mall on the site, known over the years as the Spruce Shopping Center, located on the southeast corner of El Camino Real and Spruce Avenue, has stood vacant in recent years.

Steelwave is also planning several buildings consisting of offices and research sites on the site adjacent to the Safeway business location.

The office and research buildings are expected to have a total area of ​​750,000 square meters, according to a very tentative proposal submitted to the city council.

With the exception of the Safeway store, 19,500 square feet of retail space could potentially be part of the project.

Steelwave is coordinating the exact plans for the office and research space as well as the additional retail locations outside the Safeway store.

Construction of the new Safeway store is slated to begin this spring and be completed in the summer of 2023, officials from South San Francisco said.

The development area is within 2 miles of the San Bruno BART station.

Residents of South San Francisco have been waiting for the retail complex to be modernized for several years, but earlier proposals had not been implemented as an actual project.

“The new Safeway will anchor and stimulate positive improvements in the area and provide our residents with more shopping and dining options,” said Mayor Addiego.

180 El Camino Real in San Francisco, a development site for a mixed-use office and retail project, concept. (Google Maps)

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