LabCentral and Astellas Announce Diamond Ticket Winner Quantum Sky

$500,000 credit for private biomanufacturing lab space at LabCentral 238 supports growth trajectory for AI modeling biotech startup

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- LabCentral, the Massachusetts-based network of coworking labs designed to accelerate high-potential biotech startups, and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. (President: Michael Petroutsas, "Astellas"), today announced they have presented biotech startup Quantum Sky with a Diamond Ticket, one of the largest lab space awards of its kind in the industry.

In March, Astellas, the founding sponsor of LabCentral 238, and LabCentral, announced the creation of the new Diamond Ticket award, which provides a $500,000 credit for private lab space at LabCentral 238, a state-of-the-art scale up facility in the heart of Kendall Square, to an innovative, growth-stage biotech company. It also provides access to shared infrastructure, specialized research equipment and the robust series of events, programs, services and networking opportunities available to all resident companies.

"At Astellas, our vision is always to improve health care around the world and deliver value for patients," said Hide Goto, Head of Open Innovation Management, Astellas. "In collaboration with LabCentral, we offer the new Diamond Ticket, which directly supports the goal of helping to bring the groundbreaking research of talented scientists to fruition and change people's lives for the better."

"The new Diamond Ticket is designed to deliver the highest level of capital support and meet the specific needs of growth-stage biotech startups," said Johannes Fruehauf, MD, PhD, CEO and co-founder LabCentral. "Along with our founding sponsor Astellas, we're proud that the Diamond Ticket can help foster the growth and success of exciting new companies like Quantum Sky that are developing novel therapies with the potential to shape the future of science and healthcare."

Quantum Sky is focused on advancing the frontiers of biotechnology by developing foundation and application-specific artificial intelligence (AI) models. Its innovative approach is creating otherwise unattainable synthetic biomachines (protein, RNA, and so on) that address previously intractable challenges and unlock unprecedented opportunities for partners like the Roche, Sherlock Biosciences and others.

"We are honored to be awarded the first Diamond Ticket, that acknowledges our past achievements and innovations and supports our future growth," said Chengwei Luo, PhD, founder and CEO of Quantum Sky. "With it, we eagerly anticipate collaboration with the LabCentral team and are excited to engage with our Diamond Ticket sponsor, Astellas."

The Diamond Ticket complements LabCentral's longstanding Golden Ticket program, which has awarded lab space and other benefits to more than 150 biotech startup recipients over the last ten years. The Diamond Ticket winner is chosen by a selection committee of industry experts who review the quality and potential impact of candidates' science, along with other key selection criteria. In addition to private lab space, the winning startup receives access to shared infrastructure, specialized research equipment and the robust series of events, programs, services and networking opportunities available to all LabCentral resident companies.

About LabCentral
A private, non-profit institution, LabCentral is a launchpad for high potential life-sciences and biotech startups with 243,000 square feet of space across Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., and the Harvard University campus. Founded in 2013, LabCentral offers a full complement of programming and networking to life sciences entrepreneurs in addition to fully permitted laboratory and office space for early-stage and growing life sciences companies. More information is available at www.labcentral.org.

About Astellas
Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+® healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/en.

Cautionary Notes（Astellas）
In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas' intellectual property rights by third parties.

The safety and efficacy of the agents discussed herein are under investigation and have not been established. There is no guarantee that the agents will receive regulatory approval and become commercially available for uses being investigated. Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice.

SOURCE LabCentral