This New York-based biotech company relocated its HQ to Montgomery County

Autonomous Therapeutics Inc. (ATI), a biotech company developing antiviral drugs to prevent respiratory pandemics, has relocated its headquarters from New York to Rockville, Maryland.

The three-year-old company made the move to be closer to U.S. researchers, regulators and funders in the biotech industry and found its new home in a 17,700-square-foot office space located at 1530 E. Jefferson Street. This area is part of an Opportunity Zone in Montgomery County, which gives businesses an advantage to attract future investment. This new office will house the biotech company’s manufacturing and R&D studies on its therapeutics.

ATI currently has 15 employees with plans to hire more than 50 engineers and scientists over the next three years to work out of its Rockville headquarters.

“Expanding to Montgomery County has been an excellent outcome for our growing company. We needed to get up and running quickly, and Montgomery County could – and did – make that happen,” said ATI CEO Dr. Ariel Weinberger in a statement. “We worked together to identify an ideal lab and manufacturing space from which to source top talent and to accelerate our COVID-19 work in a world-class biotech hub adjacent to leading organizations like NIH, BARDA, and the Department of Defense.”

ATI previously managed a lab at JLABS@NYC, a Johnson & Johnson life science incubator. The company was also recently named to the first Blue Knight cohort, which is a joint initiative between JLABS and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) that’s looking to amplify scientific and technological advancements to prepare for and respond to our global health environment.

“We appreciate ATI’s choice of the City of Rockville for its new home,” said Cindy Rivarde, CEO of Rockville Economic Development. “The company worked closely with the City during its build-out, and we are thrilled to assist as they join our high-tech community.”

As part of this move, ATI will receive an $80,000 Montgomery County MOVE grant, which is part of a program that dishes out one-time grants to eligible new businesses that sign a commercial lease within the county. The biotech company is up for a similar grant as part of Rockville’s MOVE program.

Some other prominent biotech company that are headquartered in Montgomery County include Altimmune, Novavax, miRecule and OpGen. Novavax is currently in phase three of clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.