The life sciences industry in Montgomery County continues to grow during the pandemic, with a therapeutics company relocating to the county to be near federal agencies.

Autonomous Therapeutics signed a 17,700 SF lease to move its headquarters from New York City to Rockville, Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. announced Thursday.

The life sciences company will take the full building at 1530 East Jefferson St., owned by F&H Investments. Edge's Kenneth Fellows and Robert Pugh brokered the deal.

The building sits just off Rockville Pike, about a mile from the Twinbrook Metro station. The company maintains a lab in New York at a Johnson & Johnson life sciences incubator.

The company is working to develop therapeutics for COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. It currently has 15 employees, and it plans to hire more than 50 scientists and engineers within the next three years.

Life sciences companies in Montgomery County, such as Novavax, Emergent BioSolutions and GlaxoSmithKline, have received more than $3B in funding this year to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, and this funding has spurred growth in the market for lab space.

Autonomous Therapeutics said it chose the county because of the proximity of the National Institutes of Health, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the Department of Defense, and the ability to source talent.

The company received an $80K grant from Montgomery County and is eligible for a grant from the city of Rockville. It also located within an opportunity zone, a program it said it may utilize to attract future investment.

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