Spark Therapeutics to expand West Philadelphia location

Spark Therapeutics, a fully integrated commercial gene therapy company, recently announced it would be expanding its research and development capabilities in West Philadelphia.

The new facility will be on Market Street and will be part of Drexel University’s Schuylkill Yards 20-year, $3 billion development project.

The expansion is a result the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of Spark Therapeutics’ first gene therapy, which launched this year.

“Spark Therapeutics is currently the only company in the United States dedicated solely to discovering, developing and delivering gene therapies for genetic diseases with an FDA-approved product,” Katherine High, Spark Therapeutics’ president and head of research and development, said. “We owe our success to decades of research in the field of gene therapy and to the time, energy and talent of our workforce, which has grown to a team of approximately 350 employees worldwide with the vast majority of our workforce based here in Philadelphia. This expansion is proof of our continued commitment to research, development, and innovation in West Philadelphia and of our determination to offer new genetic treatments for people living with genetic diseases.”

The expansion will create nearly 500 new high-paying jobs over the next five years.

Spark Therapeutics received $9.2 million in grant funding.