Rubius Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2013, its headquarters and clinical development operations are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Company is pioneering the development of a new class of medicine, Red Cell Therapeutics. Based on the Company’s vision that human red blood cells are the foundation of the next significant innovation in medicine, Rubius have designed a proprietary platform to genetically engineer and culture RCTs that are selective, potent and ready-to-use cellular therapies. The Company believes that their RCTs will provide life-changing or life-saving benefits for patients with severe diseases across multiple therapeutic areas. The Company has generated hundreds of RCTs using their highly versatile and proprietary cellular therapy platform, the Rubius Erythrocyte Design platform. The Company utilizes a universal engineering and manufacturing process to advance a broad pipeline of RCT product candidates into clinical trials in rare diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Rubius Therapeutics is proposing a $155 million, 135,000 SF building (former Alexion building) to adaptively reuse to establish their own manufacturing facility in Smithfield, RI. Its move to Rhode Island will create at least 154 new full-time jobs for which it would receive tax credits. Rubius is focused on hiring and retaining a highly skilled management team and employee base with extensive biopharma manufacturing experience, with an anticipated median salary of $54,941.
Approved Incentive
The company has been awarded up to a maximum of $2,750,000 million in Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credits, sales and use tax exemption estimated to be approximately $2,700,000.
The company is always awarded Qualified Jobs Incentives:
• The recommended term of the tax incentive agreement is ten years, and Rubius Therapeutics has indicated that it will commit to maintaining the new jobs in Rhode Island for at least the twelve years as required.
• The tax credits are predicated on Rubius Therapeutics hiring 154 full-time employees by 2022. The tax credits would not be awarded until jobs are created and generating state income tax withholdings. To receive tax credits, the company must create and maintain 100 percent of its year 1-2 hiring commitment. During the remainder of the commitment period the company must maintain 80 percent provided that the company has created and maintained at least 154 new full-time jobs in a previous taxable year.
• The total credits are estimated to be worth $9.345 million over the 10-year period. The actual tax credit amount will be determined by the number and wages of the new jobs created.
Explanation
Based on a third-party analysis, over the twelve-year period, Rhode Island is projected to realize a net increase of $6.339 million in personal income, sales, and business corporation taxes resulting from the new hires, as well as an increase of $28.1 million in Rhode Island’s annual GDP once the new hires are in place.