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Adaptimmune opens U.S. headquarters at the Navy Yard to develop cancer therapies

Adaptimmune Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing T-cell therapies to treat cancer, opened its new U.S. headquarters Wednesday at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia.

The 47,400-square foot building will accommodate clinical drug development and a manufacturing plant. The Oxford, U.K.-based company employs 92 in Philadelphia, and will grow to 120 by the end of 2017. Adaptimmune has 201 employees in the U.K.

Established in 2008, Adaptimmune aims to utilize the body's own machinery, the T-cell, to target and destroy cancer cells by using engineered T-cell receptors (TCRs) as a means of strengthening natural patient T-cell responses, the company said.

Adaptimmune has a collaboration and licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to expedite development and commercialization of one of their treatments. Adaptimmune also has partnership agreements with Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Merck, ThermoFisher, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Adaptimmune has four therapies that have been cleared by FDA for clinical studies. The company has trials underway in patients with several different cancers, including synovial sarcoma, ovarian, lung cancer, bladder, and melanoma.

The opening of the new building "underscores our continued commitment to Philadelphia and the region, as well as our unwavering focus on delivering important cell therapy products to cancer patients," said chief executive officer James Noble. "This new facility supports the advancement of our promising pipeline through scalable, cost-effective, clinical and commercial manufacturing."

Mayor Kenney and Dennis Davin from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development joined CEO Noble and other city leaders at a ribbon cutting ceremony.