Rapidly Growing Autonomous Therapeutics Chooses Montgomery County for New Headquarters as It Works Toward Combatting Viruses, Including COVID-19

For Immediate Release: Monday, October 19, 2020

Autonomous Therapeutics, Inc. (ATI), a rapidly growing antivirals company, has chosen Montgomery County for its new headquarters. ATI relocated from New York City to Rockville, in part to take advantage of its proximity to leading U.S. researchers, regulators and funders.

ATI’s new 17,700-square-foot operation at 1530 East Jefferson Street is in an “Opportunity Zone.” Opportunity Zones are programs that provide federal tax incentives to encourage investors to reinvest their capital gains into underserved areas for long-term community building. ATI is located within one of the 14 Opportunity Zones located in Montgomery County.

ATI is developing a suite of first-in-class “Therapeutic Interfering Particles” (TIPs) to prevent respiratory pandemics, including influenza and COVID-19. The company’s lead candidates include therapeutics that are designed to prevent infections by any coronavirus strain—from COVID-19 to the next pandemic.

ATI has raised millions of dollars in capital from public and private partners to transition its antiviral candidates into first-in-human clinical trials. Currently, the company has 15 employees and has plans to hire more than 50 scientists and engineers within the next three years. 

“We welcome Autonomous Therapeutics to Montgomery County, the ideal landscape for growth for our biotech companies that have received more than $3 billion of public and private coronavirus funding this year alone,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “With our world-class life science strengths, talent pipeline and quality of life, we look forward to seeing the trajectory of this innovative firm as it embarks on human trials to help fight COVID-19 and save lives.”

County Executive Elrich also talked about Autonomous Therapeutics recently at a news conference. His remarks can be viewed at https://youtu.be/8c3SYPFDL5s.

The new ATI headquarters will be home to the manufacturing and research and development studies that will move its therapeutics into clinical trials and, eventually, into the marketplace.

“Expanding to Montgomery County has been an excellent outcome for our growing company,” said Ariel Weinberger, CEO of Autonomous Therapeutics. “We needed to get up and running quickly, and Montgomery County could—and did—make that happen. 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.”

In New York City, Autonomous Therapeutics incubated and maintains a lab at JLABS@NYC, a Johnson & Johnson Innovation network of life science incubators. The company was recently named to the first cohort of “Blue Knight” companies, “for their promising work to fill gaps in the current set of available COVID-19 diagnostic, therapeutic, vaccine and other technology potential solutions.” Blue Knight is a collaboration between J&J and the Federal government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

“Being so closely located in Montgomery County to Autonomous Therapeutics’ major federal partners and regulators, such as the Department of Defense, BARDA and FDA, made its headquarters choice of Rockville a logical decision,” said Benjamin H. Wu, president and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC). “We are also an epicenter for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) talent. A recent report from the Information Technology Industry Council confirmed that Montgomery County is a national leader with triple the national median of STEM workers, giving the company access to one of the strongest talent pools in the country.” 

As a new company to the County, Autonomous Therapeutics will receive an $80,000 Montgomery County MOVE grant, and is eligible for a City of Rockville MOVE grant. The company is also eligible for Job Creation Tax Credits through the State of Maryland.

In addition to the MOVE grant, MCEDC assisted with site selection and connections to state financial programs. MCEDC also helped with introductions to City of Rockville staff for permitting and the Rockville grant, facilitated contacts for guidance through the application processes and connected the company to high-level talent resources and utility assistance.

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

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Release ID: 20-611
Media Contact: Kristin O'Keefe 240-641-6703