Biomed Realty Trust Facilitates Isis Pharmaceuticals in Making Cents of Antisense Technology

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Researched by Industrial Information Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Biomed Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:BMR) (San Diego, California) has commenced construction of the future home of Isis Pharmaceuticals Incorporated's (NASDAQ:ISIS) (Carlsbad, California) principal research and development (R&D) operations.

The 176,000-square-foot ultra-modern facility will be located in the 414-acre Carlsbad Oaks North Business Park in Carlsbad, California, just down the road from Isis' currently leased BMR facility. Isis inked a 20-year lease agreement on the new building, bringing the company's total rented space with BMR in Carlsbad to 204,700 square feet. The new R&D space will allow Isis to consolidate most of its operations under one roof, creating a synergy that will enable Isis to expand the company's proprietary antisense technology.

Isis Pharmaceuticals is the industry leader in antisense drug discovery and development. Isis invents the drugs and then receives upfront licensing fees and downstream royalties from firms that eventually commercialize and market the discoveries.

In short, antisense technology is used to manipulate the messenger RNA (genetic material) to render disease-causing or undesirable genes ineffective. Using antisense technology, Isis develops pharmaceuticals that create a mirror image of normal, or "sense" RNA, which in turn binds to the defective RNA molecules so they cannot produce disease-causing proteins. Conventional pharmaceuticals bind directly with disease-causing protein molecules, but lack the specificity of antisense technology and may bind with other protein molecules, resulting in unwanted side effects. The state-of-the-art facility will give Isis the much-needed room to expand its groundbreaking efforts.

Isis' landlord, Biomed Realty Trust, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in providing real estate to the life sciences industry. BMR currently owns or has interests in 73 properties, comprised of 120 buildings and 11 million square feet of rentable laboratory and office space, valued at approximately $3.5 billion. BMR is acting as the construction manager for the project and has engaged DPR Construction Incorporated (San Diego) to handle the general contracting duties. The structure was designed by Dowler Gruman Architects (San Diego).

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