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The $12 million Center for Diagnostics Discovery, a place for fledgling entrepreneurs working to improve how and when diseases are detected, has opened for business in Horsham — and landed it first tenants.
Avantia Labs, a contract research organization startup led by founder and CEO Dr. Hong Chen, has taken 2,300 square feet at the 55,000-square-foot facility established in space adjacent to NMS Labs, a bioanalytical toxicology and forensic sciences laboratory, at 206 Welsh Road.
The Center for Diagnostics Discovery is also providing a new home for the Center for Forensic Science Research, a nonprofit affiliate of NMS Labs previously based in Willow Grove that is providing education, training and research in forensic laboratory sciences.
The Center for Forensic Science Research, led by President and Chief Science Officer Dr. Barry Logan, brought a staff of about three dozen people to the new site where it has 2,400 square feet of office space and a 5,700-square-foot lab. The organization provides of variety of forensic science training, education and research services — including identifying novel substances in illicit street drugs — to forensic scientists, law enforcement, and legal professionals. "We are looking forward to working with clinical collaborators here on the next big idea in the public safety-public health space," said M.J. Menendez, a senior fellow at the Center for Forensic Science Research.
A third tenant at the site is Aspida Dx, a company controlled by the Rieders family that is developing a point-of-care testing product with an initial application for use in diagnosing substance use disorder. It has about 800 square feet of space.
The Center for Diagnostics Discovery, which occupies space previously used by Cigna's mail order pharmacy operations, is the brainchild of Eric Rieders, an owner and former CEO of NMS Labs. The building that houses both the center and NMS is owned by the Rieders family, which founded NMS Labs. Malvern-based Norwood Co. served as the designer and builder for the diagnostics center project.
Rieders said the project has come together as he envisioned, albeit during a time when life sciences startups are struggling to attract investments.
"I've had a number of entrepreneurs come in who would like to establish their companies here if they had the funding," Rieders said. "Right now it's a challenging environment. Investments have been sluggish for life sciences companies and that includes diagnostics."
Rieders' idea was to create an incubator that will focus on accelerating the discovery, development and commercialization of diagnostics. In an interview in late 2022, when work on the project was just beginning, Rieders told the Business Journal he modeled his initiative after a nearby project in Bucks County.
"I've been impressed and inspired by what has happened in Doylestown at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center," he said. "We've worked with some of the organizations inside of there, so I've been over there a couple of times. A lot of the incubators and accelerators in the life sciences area are pointed at therapeutics, especially these days in Philadelphia where there's an awful lot of interest in gene and cell therapy."
Rieders said a big challenge was keeping the project on budget despite rising interest rates and construction costs and supply chain struggles.
He is open to providing space to others beyond those focused on diagnostics. "If a life sciences company came here looking for space, they'd be welcome," he said.
The center's business plan is to offer entrepreneurs working on early and mid-stage diagnostic science applications a membership plan that includes affordable laboratory and business space and access to equipment. The center's amenities include secure labs, private office suites, meeting rooms and support facilities that will enhance collaboration and networking among resident members.
The membership or license fee for private biosafety level-2 space at the center is $130 per square foot per year gross, including amenities, but prospective tenants are not required to make any long-term commitments. Semi-private lab benching in fit-out lab space is also available.
Scheer Partners is serving as the center's exclusive agent to market the space.
Future plans include developing education programs and providing access to industry experts to help companies further develop scientific ideas into commercial products.
Rieders said he came up with the idea for the Center for Diagnostics Discovery through conversations he had with Tim Kelly, vice president and partner at Norwood and an advisor for the project.
“Better, faster, lower-cost and more accessible diagnostics are essential to ongoing improvements in patient outcomes," said Kelly, whose company has extensive experience building hospitals and health care centers as well as the expansion of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center. "The Center for Diagnostics Discovery and the companies that will start and grow here are an important piece of solving the complex puzzle that is health care delivery."
Rieders said he believes the diagnostics sector of the life sciences industry has been historically undervalued by investors, but the sector showed its value to the world when the Covid-19 pandemic created a monumental demand for ways to quickly determine if somebody was infected by the virus.
He is hopeful the Center for Diagnostics Discovery puts a bigger spotlight on the sector. "We need to know what ails us," he said, "before we can start to cure it."
