Celgene closing site

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Aug 14, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:50 a.m.

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Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, which owns patented processes for harvesting stem cells from placentas for potential life-saving medical treatments, is closing its Baton Rouge facility despite the state’s offer of a $1.5 million grant and tax credits for research and job creation to keep it here.

Celgene Cellular, which is owned by the Celgene Corp., of New Jersey, leases 11,000 square feet of space in the Louisiana Technology Park on Florida Boulevard.

It employs 15 people.

Spokesman Greg Geissman said Wednesday the Baton Rouge operations will be moved to Celgene’s Warren, N.J., facilities, where it makes more sense long term to combine the company’s resources.

Celgene had purchased a company here called Anthrogenesis Corp., which in 2002 was considered one of the Louisiana’s biotech recruitment successes. It was typically touted by economic development officials as a local technology sector asset — much like the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices.

Former U.S. Rep. Richard Baker helped bring New Jersey-based Anthrogenesis to Baton Rouge in mid-2002.

The company had developed processes to get stem cells from placentas and umbilical cords after babies’ births. The work promised to provide a solution to politically sensitive issues dogging research using stem cells extracted from fetal tissue.

The list of diseases that may respond to stem-cell treatments include Alzheimer’s; leukemia; sickle cell anemia; Parkinson’s; solid tumor cancers; and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Anthrogenesis and the state struck a deal in 2002 to form a stem-cell repository here, with the Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans and Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge supplying placentas and umbilical cords for stem cell research.

State officials hoped the stem-cell repository would boost Louisiana’s biotech industry. A month later Celgene bought Anthrogenesis for $45 million in stock. Celgene eventually moved its cord-blood banking facilities to Warren, N.J.

Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret said Wednesday that the Baton Rouge facility has basically been on shaky ground since the Celgene purchase.

“It’s been at risk for years, and a lot of great folks have put in a lot of hours trying to find a solution that would keep them in Baton Rouge,” Moret said. “I really get the sense this was not about economics as much as the particular strategic direction the company wants to go in, and where this facility doesn’t fit.”

As part of its strategic plan, Celgene Cellular will be submitting an investigational new drug application later this year, Geissman, the spokesman, said in a prepared statement. According to the Food and Drug Administration, investigational drug applications cover experimental drugs that show promise for serious or life-threatening conditions.