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International biotechnology company GlaxoSmithKline is moving its vaccine and infectious disease research teams to Cambridge, in a latest step to strengthen its presence in the Greater Boston area.
The research and development teams will relocate from Rockville, Maryland, to the company’s existing CambridgePark Drive location — one of their three company centers in the city — in mid-2026.
GSK expanded its footprint at 200 CambridgePark Drive in 2023, reaching almost 200,000 square feet on their lease under real estate management firm King Street Properties. Prior to 2023, the company held 45,000 square feet at the location.
“Our Cambridge Park Drive facility is home to cutting-edge technology platforms,” a GSK spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “The expansion of lab space here to include Vaccines R&D, will help us bring together expertise working on RNA and viral capabilities.”
The London-based pharmaceutical giant also has two research and development locations at 300 Technology Square and 301 Binney Street in Kendall Square.
While GSK currently has drug discovery and immunology research teams based out of the CambridgePark office, the spokesperson added that the location’s workforce expansion is a step in advancing the company’s goals.
“With the opportunity to expand our footprint in Cambridge, and the lease of the Rockville Vaccines site at 1420 Shady Grove coming up for renewal, we were able to align our location strategy with our R&D ambition and innovation leadership, including attracting and retaining key talent,” they wrote.
GSK’s move comes as Cambridge has seen a jump in biotech start-ups signing leases in Kendall Square, increasing demand for coworking lab space while fueling research in the city.
Other biopharma companies have also been expanding their footprint in Cambridge, with heavyweights like Takeda and AstraZeneca set to occupy 600,000 square feet and 570,000 sq ft in properties opening for occupancy in 2026.
GSK’s Rockville location, which opened in Dec. 2016, was GSK’s first U.S. center dedicated to vaccine research and development, and hosts 350 employees, according to the company’s website.
The company’s announced relocation comes after a year of lower vaccine sales in Fiscal Year 2024. After predicting growth in vaccine sales in July of last year, poor performance from GSK’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine Arexvy led to an overall 4 percent drop in vaccine sales.
In a press release of their 2024 financial results, GSK wrote that vaccine performance “was also adversely impacted due to COVID-19 solution sales and US CDC stockpile replenishments in 2023.”
The company recorded a total operating profit of more than $5 billion — a decrease of 33 percent from last year — mostly due to charges relating to an ongoing litigation for their drug Zantac.
Other vaccine companies have seen sales and profit take a hit. Moderna recorded $3.2 billion in revenue for FY 2024— a drop of almost 50 percent from $6.8 billion the previous year.
GSK’s expansion into Cambridge will add to the state’s growing biopharma workforce. According to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the state added nearly 3,000 new jobs to the sector in 2023, accounting for nearly 17 percent of the state’s job growth.
Though transition plans for Rockville-based employees have not yet been finalized, the spokesperson confirmed that GSK will be hiring in the Greater Boston area.
—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Thamini Vijeyasingam can be reached at thamini.vijeyasingam@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @vijeyasingam.
