Pfizer to move lab to San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Pfizer Inc's new Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center is moving to the Mission Bay area of San Francisco, the company said.

The new location is next door to the University of California San Francisco and is "a significant win" for the city, Mayor Gavin Newsom said.

"It just really solidifies this bio-tech cluster we're trying to create," said Kelly Kahn of the city's redevelopment agency, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.

The move from South San Francisco is designed to take advantage of the number of bio-tech research firms in the area, lab director Corey Goodman said.

"Every interest is aligned for us to take those innovative discoveries from basic biomedical research, turn them into therapeutics, test them in the clinic, and ultimately take them to the market to help patients," Goodman said.

In June, Pfizer signed a $9.5 million research deal with UCSF and their research unit at the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences in Mission Bay, the Chronicle reported.

The area is already home to Sirna Therapeutics Inc. and future home for FibroGen Inc., which will move from the City of South San Francisco in November, the newspaper reported.