Cepter works with biotech and big pharmaceutical companies

from Belleville Post - October 2023

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“I wasn’t ready to retire and was working with a great group of people, so I had the idea that we could do this work for any group that was willing to contract us,” he said.

Stern and the five initial colleagues who joined him were fortunate to gain the support of the leadership at Roche.

“We needed specialized equipment to initiate our venture and Roche was willing to contribute equipment once we presented a viable business plan,” Stern said.

A connection provided by a Roche attorney allowed the team to secure lab space at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and they landed their first contract when Roche’s research group in Switzerland agreed to funnel some projects their way.

“The management team and scientists at Roche were terrific,” Stern said. “I don’t know of another pharma company that would have been so accommodating to a spin-out company after a site closure.”

Since its launch in October of 2013, Cepter, which is an acronym for cloning, expression and purification of proteins, has become a well-established company for U.S.-based on-shore contract research.

“We work with most of the big pharma companies, biotech companies, as well as virtual biotechs with no wet labs,” Stern said. “We also partner with venture capital folks and non-profits like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where the focus is on discovering cures for Third World diseases.”

After eight years in Hoboken, the need for bigger and better space led the Cepter team back to Nutley.

“We looked at several sites, but all of us wanted to go back ‘home’,” Stern said. “It’s incredible that we’re in the same building, with even the same view out the window as when I left Roche 10 years ago.”

When Prism Capital Partners acquired the ON3 campus in 2016, the firm had a very specific vision: to transform the 116-acre, single-user complex into a world-class, multi-tenant lifestyle hub to meet the changing demands of New Jersey communities, residents and businesses.

“In today’s market, life science companies want facilities with strong synergies in an environment that spans the full clinical solutions lifecycle,” said Prism’s Eugene Diaz, principal partner. “ON3’s success in drawing companies like Cepter – those that understand the value of the ecosystem we are creating – is incredibly gratifying.”

More than 2 million square feet of additional, new space is planned for the property, Diaz said.