PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, is at the vanguard of the vital life science ecosystem that is advancing solutions for COVID-19 through a multifaceted, highly impactful strategy that includes a mission-critical focus on making rapid COVID-19 testing available to all Americans. Widespread screening and diagnostic testing, in addition to safe and effective vaccines and therapies, are desperately needed to resolve the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the uninterrupted operations of Alexandria's essential national Labspace® real estate platform, the company has enabled over 80 of its life science tenants to continue much-needed work on COVID-related diagnostics, testing, therapies and vaccines, as well as other essential research, development, manufacturing and commercialization efforts. Abbott Laboratories, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Color, Cue Health, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Mammoth Biosciences, Quest Diagnostics, Quidel, Roche, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Verily Life Sciences are among the numerous Alexandria tenants working tirelessly to improve the quality, capacity and turnaround time of COVID-19 testing to more effectively determine who has an active infection, who has been exposed to the virus and who has developed immunity against it.
Thought leaders from across the company who make up Alexandria's COVID-19 Task Force have partnered with its COVID-19 Advisory Board of esteemed experts in biopharma, clinical research and psychiatry to strategically plan for its tenants to safely bring more of their employees back to Alexandria's world-class campuses and properties. Together, the Task Force and Advisory Board have deployed an important national COVID-19 testing initiative to facilitate routine screenings to help tenants identify asymptomatic cases among their employees. Alexandria has launched the program with centralized locations in Cambridge, South San Francisco and New York City and is also in the process of expanding this testing program to additional regions.
"It has been very gratifying to work closely with Alexandria and its COVID-19 Task Force on the company's sophisticated approach to COVID-19 screening initiatives and far-reaching efforts to ensure that its biotech and life science tenants can safely advance important work," said Michael Pellini, MD, managing partner of Section 32, a technology, healthcare and life science venture capital fund, and key member of Alexandria's COVID-19 Advisory Board. "Increasing access to and scaling of effective screening and diagnostic testing at the national and regional level is key to lessening the burden of the COVID-19 global pandemic. With U.S. demand for COVID-19 tests soaring, we must implement robust employee-based testing strategies to provide the actionable and timely insights required to safely reopen the U.S. economy."
In a notable example of Alexandria's robust infrastructure and its preeminent life science and healthcare networks, Alexandria was approached by the CEOs of its Cambridge-based tenants Triplet Therapeutics, Verve Therapeutics and Kymera Therapeutics to provide the requisite infrastructure for a COVID-19 testing site as an additional safeguard for the local life science community to ensure a larger number of employees could access routine testing. Following the success of a pilot screening program championed by this group of Cambridge-based thought leaders in collaboration with Alexandria tenant and investment portfolio company Color, a healthcare technology company and leader in distributed healthcare and clinical testing, Alexandria was brought in to join the effort to launch a dedicated COVID-19 testing site at Alexandria Technology Square® in Cambridge. Alexandria has also collaborated with Color on a tenant testing site in South San Francisco at the Alexandria Technology Center® – Gateway. Both sites are currently testing a total of over 1,000 people weekly. In New York City, Alexandria is working with One Medical, a membership-based primary care practice, to offer access to COVID-19 testing at the Alexandria Center® for Life Science campus. Alexandria donated and delivered the mission-critical infrastructure for these testing sites in record time, and each site has been configured with physical distancing solutions and enhanced ventilation to ensure safe testing environments.
"Our goal is to enable faster, more easily accessible, scalable and routine COVID-19 screening for asymptomatic cases as a critical measure to maintain the safety of our campuses and communities," said Whitney Snider, MD, MBA, principal of science and technology and head of Alexandria LaunchLabs® – New York City at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments, as well as member of Alexandria's COVID-19 Task Force. "By establishing key partnerships with Color, One Medical and others to enhance local testing capacity and reduce turnaround time, we hope to meaningfully contribute to curtailing the spread of COVID-19 in our ecosystems and facilitate a safer reopening of workplaces, schools, communities and society overall. As we approach the potential for resurgences this fall, we will continue to evaluate new technologies that enable improved, rapid point-of-care screening, such as antigen and saliva-based approaches, and we will help ensure that our life science communities have access to them."
Additionally, with Alexandria's leadership reputation at the vanguard of the life science ecosystem that is working to advance solutions for COVID-19 and human health, and the company's proven ability to deliver state-of-the-art, highly complex facilities on time and on budget, Alexandria was also approached by another one of its current tenants, Cue Health, to facilitate expansion of a new manufacturing capacity in support of the development and commercialization its COVID-19 and influenza A/B tests, among others products. To swiftly meet this important COVID-related expansion requirement, Alexandria acquired and is actively redeveloping 9877 Waples Street, a 63,774 RSF property in its Sorrento Mesa submarket of San Diego. The value-creation project, which is 100% pre-leased to Cue Health, is expected to be initially occupied in 2021. Cue Health is an early-stage healthcare technology company that has leveraged its connected diagnostics platform for a rapid, portable, molecular point-of-care COVID-19 test that detects the RNA of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in 25 minutes from a nasal swab sample taken from the lower part of the nose. In June, Cue Health received FDA emergency use authorization to use its COVID-19 test under the supervision of a qualified medical professional and is seeking additional FDA authorizations for use of the COVID-19 test in settings such as the workplace, schools and home. The company also closed on a $100 million Series C financing earlier this year and was awarded $13 million in funding by the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which has helped accelerate the development of its easy-to-use COVID-19 test.
About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500® urban office REIT, is the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $27.7 billion as of June 30, 2020, and an asset base in North America of 43.0 million SF. The asset base in North America includes 28.8 million RSF of operating properties and 2.3 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 6.6 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects and 5.3 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, technology and agtech campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, technology and agtech companies through our venture capital arm. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns and greater long-term asset value. For more information on Alexandria, please visit www.are.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the potential impacts posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties we, our tenants and the global and national economies face as a result, and the prospects for success of any COVID-19 testing methodology, treatment or vaccine. These forward-looking statements are based on Alexandria's present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by Alexandria's forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and Alexandria assumes no obligation to update this information. For more discussion relating to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the Company's forward-looking statements, and risks and uncertainties to the Company's business in general, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
CONTACT: Sara Kabakoff, Vice President – Corporate Communications, (626) 788–5578, skabakoff@are.com
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alexandria-real-estate-equities-inc-at-the-vanguard-of-the-life-science-ecosystems-rapid-scaling-of-covid-19-testing-301111373.html
SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.