S. San Francisco biotech to open SLC operation

By Brice Wallace

A biotech company working on medicines to address Alzheimer’s and other diseases will put a clinical manufacturing operation in the Salt Lake City area, bringing up to 100 jobs to Utah over the next decade.

Denali Therapeutics Inc., based in South San Francisco, is focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing and ultimately commercializing medicinesfor neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, lysosomal storage diseases and more. Denali’s proprietary drug technology platform allows the transportation of drugs across the blood-brain barrier and into the brain.

Founded in 2015, publicly traded Denali had about 300 full time employees at the end of 2020. The $40 million project will include the construction of a state-of-the-art biologics clinical manufacturing facility.

“We founded the company basically … to solve Alzheimer’s,” Ryan Watts, co-founder and CEO, told the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board after it approved a $1.36 million tax credit incentive over 10 years for the company. “That is ultimately our goal. That being said, we know that it’s going to take incremental successes to get there.”

The company’s research and development work is done in the U.S., but its contract manufacturing takes place outside the U.S.

“So we’re really looking forward to bringing some of that back to the U.S. and Utah would be a great site for that, for building out and building what we think would be a really great place for people to work,” Dana Anderson, chief technology and manufacturing officer, told the GOED board. “It’s about a $40 million investment upfront to build this place, but we think it would be a really great site for us.”

The new jobs are projected to pay an average of $81,975. Total wages over the next 10 years are expected to be $108.1 million, and new state tax revenue over that time is projected at about $9 million.

For 2020, Denali reported net income of $71.1 million (it was $244.9 million in the fourth quarter), which compares with a net loss of $197.6 million for 2019. Revenue last year totaled $335.7 million, up from $26.7 million in 2019.

“Denali Therapeutics will be a great addition to Utah’s growing life science industry,” Dan Hemmert, GOED’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “Neurodegenerative diseases have impacted many Utah families, and we wish the company success as they continue to grow and develop medicine for these diseases.”

“With patience, seeds can sprout. Denali Therapeutics is a high-growth life sciences company that evaluated several western U.S. metropolitan areas before selecting Salt Lake City for an expansion,” said Theresa A. Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “Utah first got on their radar thanks to a proactive GOED/EDCUtah visit to their Bay Area offices in February 2018. We nurtured the connection since then.”

“After meeting with Denali leadership, I could not be more excited to hear the news of their expansion to Salt Lake City,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

“The company will play a critical role in expanding the life sciences industry in our community and their work to combat neurodegenerative diseases will be beneficial to the future of global public health. We welcome Denali Therapeutics to ‘Tech Lake City’ and look forward to their innovations and continued success in the future.”