Two vacant buildings on pharmaceutical drug maker Pfizer’s Groton campus will be repurposed for bioscience research, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced.
Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), a statewide bioscience association with more than 90 member life sciences companies and other members, will establish with the help of a $4.2 million state grant a tech incubator called CURE Innovation Commons.
Pfizer will donate to CURE its 24,000-square-foot building, known as Building 286.
The center is expected to open by September, after initial renovations are complete. It will be fully operational by July of next year. Malloy said rental income and fees are expected to cover the cost of operating the incubator.
Rod MacKenzie, group senior vice president and head of Pfizer Pharmatherapeutics R&D, said the incubator will allow various companies to collaborate with the 3,000 Pfizer employees who work on the campus.
Pfizer will lease a second building — Building 230 — to the state for $1 a year to build a data center for the Department of Administrative Services, Malloy’s office said. The center will house disaster backup equipment and other infrastructure.
