Pfizer opens new research and development site in Cambridge, US

The new Pfizer facilities in Kendall Square bring together 1,000 colleagues from three area locations and position Pfizer in closer proximity to leading academic institutions, hospitals and patient organizations.

"Our new Kendall Square presence in Cambridge represents an important milestone in Pfizer’s approach to creating a sustainable R&D engine that is designed to yield a flow of innovative therapies year after year," said Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., President of Worldwide Research and Development at Pfizer.

"Having all of our Cambridge-area researchers working closely together in one of the world’s most exciting biomedical ecosystems will allow us to continue our efforts to grow our external collaborations and has the potential to help speed the translation of scientific knowledge into potential medical breakthroughs across areas of unmet need such as lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease."

Led by Pfizer Group Vice President of BioTherapeutics R&D, José-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos, Ph.D, the new laboratory facilities, located in the heart of Kendall Square at 610 and 700 Main Street, respectively, are leased from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Pfizer scientists will work in state-of-the-art lab space on a range of clinical programs across several therapeutic areas, including inflammation, immunology, rare disease, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and neuroscience.

"We are thrilled to welcome Pfizer’s new R&D hub to the Kendall Square innovation district," said MIT President L. Rafael Reif, Ph.D.

"We could not ask for a more exciting tenant for these spaces. MIT and Pfizer have established a tradition of working together to advance science, research and education, through strategic initiatives like MIT’s Synthetic Biology Center. With this extraordinary core of Pfizer research teams now right next door to our labs at MIT, we can capitalize on the power of proximity to speed progress towards solutions to urgent challenges in human health."

"Pfizer’s new research facilities are an important addition to the rich concentration of biomedical organizations in Kendall Square," said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. "The opening of the hub demonstrates Pfizer’s commitment to innovation and builds on the more than 15 years that Pfizer has been a part of the life sciences community here in Massachusetts."

In addition to the new Cambridge R&D hub, Massachusetts is home to Pfizer’s research and manufacturing site in Andover and is the global headquarters for Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) in Boston. By establishing collaborations with institutions working on novel and cutting-edge research, CTI’s model is designed to build an innovative network for drug discovery, with the goal of bringing new, targeted therapies to patients quickly.