Alexandria Real Estate Equities strikes again. This time, in the former Novartis space in its Nautilus campus.

NantKwest Inc inked a deal for 44,700 SF at 3530 John Hopkins Ct, part of the complex once used by Merck & Co and Novartis, according to filings with the SEC. Alexandria, which bought the Nautilus project in 2012 and renovated into a life science complex, inked the sizable deal with NantKwest this past summer for both office and R&D uses, according to docs.

This deal is part of what Alexandria's Dan Ryan recently called the best leasing quarter in 20 years. The firm also secured a build-to-suit with Eli Lilly at its Campus Point Drive project. This deal for NantKwest comes on the heels of that biotech's recent IPO, which secured a market cap of more than $2B. NantKwest, controlled by LA billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong (here), makes cancer immunotherapy medicines.