$2 Million For Montco Life Sciences Campus

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — A life sciences, healthcare and technology hub in this Montgomery County community recently saw a multi-million-dollar infusion of state grant dollars to help with a planned expansion.

The Discovery Labs, which is a five million square-foot facility located in King of Prussia that is home to numerous world-class scientists and organizations, received $2 million in state funding to go toward site preparation and initial development for its Innovation 411 Plateau.

The grant dollars were announced by the office of State Rep. Tim Briggs, a Democrat representing parts of Montgomery County.

Briggs said that the latest state dollars supplement a previous $9.5 million grant for the Discovery Labs, which includes Innovation 411 and the Center for Breakthrough Medicines.

"Discovery Labs is an exciting, transformational opportunity for our Commonwealth," Briggs said in a statement. "As co-chair of the PA Legislative Life Sciences Caucus, I know the positive impact the Life Sciences has on our region and have been committed to making it even stronger."

Innovation 411 is described as one million square feet of space consisting of 14 state-of-the-art buildings containing world-class pharmaceutical quality FDA labs, cGMP cell and gene therapy manufacturing, and office and technology space.

The latest grant dollars will help with a phase of the Innovation 411 project that includes site prep activities, including erosion and sediment controls, site grading, stormwater management, installation of new utilities, concrete and paving, landscaping, site lighting and traffic improvements, according to Briggs' office.

The improvements to the site will help to usher in the development of four new life science buildings at the King of Prussia campus.

"This will be a huge economic driver for Montgomery County, as well as a big push forward for health sciences everywhere," Briggs stated. "Innovation 411 is bringing high-paying jobs to our neighborhood while providing life-changing medicine and medical testing."

Briggs said that projects such as these can help transform a region by encouraging certain industries to invest in communities and grow roots locally.

According to the Discovery Labs website, the King of Prussia campus consists of research and development space along with manufacturing and tech-enabled space and is home to some of the "greatest minds and most influential organizations."

"Our cluster has already attracted world-leading scientists and organizations," the site states. "Built with unparalleled infrastructure to meet the immediate needs and continued growth of your business."

The Discovery Labs bills itself as "built by scientific experts, for scientists," and says it partners with the most influential and recognizable life science, healthcare, biopharmaceutical and technology experts to deliver cGMP labs.

According to the U.S. FDA, cGMP stands for Current Good Manufacturing Practice, which is the main regulatory standard for ensuring pharmaceutical quality in drugs being developed for humans.

The Discovery Labs says it is a global real estate platform company and is dedicated to the mission of uniting the greatest scientists and organizations from various industries to "rapidly advance the discovery and commercialization of lifesaving medicines and therapies."