Amgen sponsors life sciences incubator programme

Amgen has announced a five-year platinum sponsorship of the QB3@953 life sciences incubator in San Francisco.

The incubator was established to accelerate the development of new therapies to improve human health by helping to support life science startups. QB3@953 offers a shared space to help high-potential startups gain access to laboratory infrastructure, a key obstacle for many early-stage organisations.

As part of the sponsorship, Amgen has launched two Amgen Golden Ticket awards, which provides winners with a year of laboratory space at the QB3@953 incubator, as well as receiving additional facility benefits and connections to Amgen's scientific and business leaders.

Mission Bio and SiteOne Therapeutics have been selected as the 2016 winners, as chosen by a team of scientific leaders following an assessment of the strength and novelty of their scientific rationale, subject matter expertise and business plan viability.

Flavius Martin, vice-president of research of inflammation and oncology at Amgen, said: "It's rewarding to be part of the energy and enthusiasm of scientific entrepreneurs in this early stage, and to help accelerate the momentum of advancements in human health."