Cleveland Clinic and a global biotech company anticipate spending $35 million in the next five years to renovate and staff the vacant Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute Florida laboratory.
The identity of the international biotech giant is being kept secret while Cleveland Clinic negotiates the terms of its takeover of the state-of-the art laboratory from the city of Port St. Lucie.
The Clinic and the company plan to hire 100 scientists to develop therapies for cancer, allergies, infectious diseases and neurological disorders at the laboratory in Tradition Center for Innovation.
Scientists in the proposed Florida Biomedical Translational Research Institute would also work with colleagues at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, which employs nearly 1,400 researchers in 180 laboratories.
Therapies developed in the new research institute would be clinically tested at the Clinic’s recently acquired hospitals in Port St. Lucie, Stuart and Vero Beach, as well as its health system in northeast Ohio.
“Our goal is have that building as a nidus for our research and to be a catalyst for other collaborations,” Dr. Joseph Iannotti, Cleveland Clinic Florida’s chief of staff, said in an interview on May 28.
Cleveland Clinic has discussed collaborating on research with nearby Torrey Pines Institute of Molecular Studies, Iannotti said. That lab is located between the VGTI building and Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital.
Florida International University’s Biomolecular Sciences Institute is in the process of acquiring Torrey Pines.
Cleveland Clinic also wants to develop relationships with the Max Planck Florida Institute for Nueroscience and the Scripps Research Institute Florida in Jupiter, Iannotti said.
“There is a lot of synergy with Max Planck being there,” Iannotti said. “I don’t think you can be successful in today’s age with any one institute. Good science is collaboration between multiple stakeholders and multiple groups. And that’s our goal.”
A deal for to Cleveland Clinic to take over the former VGTI building is expected to face City Council review by the end of July.
The 97,000-square-foot facility and 8-acre parcel at 9801 SW Discovery Way is being marketed as the Florida Center for Bioscience.
The council voted unanimously May 28 to direct City Manager Russ Blackburn to negotiate an agreement with Cleveland Clinic to establish a biomedical translational research institute in the former VGTI lab.
Cleveland Clinic and the company propose occupying the building without an upfront payment to the city, records show. The company will cover the annual operating costs, including taxes and assessments.
The city would eventually transfer the building to Cleveland Clinic if the new research institute meets employment and performance goals that will be established during negotiations.
A city-hired appraiser set the value of the former VGTI property at $14.5 million and the city has received several offers for that amount. The council chose a firm for negotiations in September 2018, but the company backed out in December.
The St. Lucie County property appraiser determined the value to be $12.5 million.
The name of Cleveland Clinic’s partner will be held in confidence while it works with the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County to secure state job growth grants, said EDC President Peter Tesch.
Iannotti’s May 28 presentation to the City Council provided many details about the partner, whose business includes developing and manufacturing vaccines.
The company received more than $50 million in grants in the last five year from the National Institutes of Health, Iannotti said. That feat “is very difficult to do for an international company and speaks to the quality of the work they do.”
“They have many other collaborations in the U.S., which is part of the motivation for them to want to move and open a new business and a new development company within the United States,” Iannotti said.
“They have a good track record in these research programs and developing animal testing capabilities,” Iannotti said. “They are developing new technology in the area of infectious diseases, cancer therapy, allergy, Alzheimer’s disease and opioid drug addiction.
“They have significant experience in developing clinical trials,” Iannotti said. “They have been able to work with other academic centers to bring their products to clinical use and through the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration).”
In addition, the company is profitable and has no debt, Iannotti said.
“Our aspiration for this collaboration and for the building is to be a global leader in the field of translational research and immunotherapies and medical infomatics,” Iannotti told the City Council.
Cleveland Clinic’s offer marked a dramatic turnaround for the previously ill-fated facility. Port St. Lucie borrowed $64 million in 2010 to custom build the laboratory for VGTI Florida. The lab opened in February 2012, but closed in 2015 in part because of the loss of NIH funding.
Port St. Lucie took over the building and its more than $57 million in debt in August 2017, city records show. It costs the city $4.1 million per year for debt service and another $1.5 million to operate the building.
Vice Mayor Shannon Martin said Cleveland Clinic’s Jan. 1 acquisition of Martin Health System and Tradition Medical Center set the stage for the pending takeover and redeployment of the former VGTI building.
The hospital and lab are key building blocks in the Tradition “jobs corridor,” a 1,200-acre tract fronting Interstate 95 where city officials have long hoped to establish an economic development hub.
“This will lead to transformational economic development in Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County,” said Mayor Greg Oravec. “This will lead to higher wages and spinoffs and new businesses.”
