Four Life Sciences Companies Announce Expansions in Connecticut

Connecticut's Life Sciences Industry Booms as Four Companies Announce Expansions, with One Choosing Connecticut for U.S. Market Entry

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvanceCT announced today that four life sciences companies are expanding their operations in Connecticut, including MannKind Corporation, Millstone Medical (formerly MycoScience), ReST Therapeutics, and Revalia Bio.

MannKind Corporation, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in Connecticut, designated its Danbury manufacturing and R&D facility as its new corporate headquarters in December 2021. Its former headquarters was in the Los Angeles area. MannKind CEO Michael Castagna cited planned expansions of the Danbury facility and its "increasing strategic importance" to the company as reasons for the new designation.

The company added more than 50 jobs in Danbury this year to keep up with demand for its groundbreaking inhaled formulation treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. With over 260 workers already located in Danbury, the facility has the potential to strategically expand its workforce as production lines for this therapeutic effort double and additional pipeline efforts progress.

Medical device and pharmaceutical contract manufacturing and laboratory testing company Millstone Medical (formerly MycoScience) recently relocated into a 25,000 sq ft facility in Bloomfield that will allow them to triple their employee count and increase service capacity by more than 400%. The $10 million investment in the expanded facility, which is expected to be operational in Q2 2024 and includes a cleanroom, will allow Millstone to offer a variety of new services to life sciences companies in Connecticut.

Paris, France-based ReST Therapeutics recently announced its entry into the U.S. market by choosing New Haven as the location for its U.S. headquarters. The developer of breakthrough therapies to treat complex neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer's and PTSD, is currently in the process of raising a $7.5 million post-seed round which it intends to invest in the state, creating 6 new jobs here initially.

ReST has also named Yale University Professor and Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital Dr. John Krystal to its scientific advisory board, a testament to the institution's impact on the New Haven region's life sciences ecosystem.

Revalia Bio is a Yale spinoff that seeks to revolutionize biomedical innovation by reinventing first-in-human clinical trials through the use of organs donated for research. The team is expanding into Elm City Bioscience Center's 55 Church St tower. As they raise seed funding, they have committed to investing more than $10 million and creating over 15 jobs in the city.

"Connecticut's life sciences industry has boomed in recent years," said John Bourdeaux, President and CEO of AdvanceCT. "Companies are drawn to the region due to the abundance of talent along our state's Innovation Corridor, stretching from Stamford to New Haven to Hartford, plus established life sciences centers in Danbury and Groton. This large concentration of R&D and STEM talent has sustained other notable companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim's U.S. headquarters, Pfizer's largest R&D facility in the U.S., and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine."

"Our state's successes in the life sciences field are thanks in no small part to higher education partners such as Yale University and UConn," said Tim Miller, Senior Director of Business Development, Life Sciences at AdvanceCT. "Connecticut boasts the 2^nd highest academic bioscience R&D expenditures per capita, the 3^rd most biological/biomedical advanced degrees per capita, and the 5^th most bioscience venture capital investments per capita. The availability of research partnerships, incubator space, funding opportunities, and available, affordable lab space has made Connecticut an increasingly attractive place to do business over historic bioscience centers such as Boston or California."

About AdvanceCT

AdvanceCT is a business-driven nonprofit that works to engage, retain, and recruit businesses to Connecticut. AdvanceCT collaborates with the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and our partners to implement high impact, equitable economic development. Our team advocates for and promotes Connecticut as a location for companies to compete and grow. www.advancect.org

SOURCE AdvanceCT