Since the day One Lambda was founded in 1984 by UCLA professor Paul Terasaki, who developed the first widely used test for matching organ donors with recipients, the company has followed an upward growth trajectory fueled by the constant evolution of science and medicine. “The company has 26 years of steady growth, it has virtually grown every year since it was founded,” said CFO James Keegan. Now, as clinicians around the world are looking more closely at the antibody levels in patients after they receive an organ transplant, One Lambda is once again in expansion mode, responding in large part to the growing field of Post Transplant Monitors. As part of the expansion, the Canoga Park based company is moving into a 53,000-square-foot office building in Warner Center in Woodland Hills where it will relocate its administrative department. The company’s research and manufacturing areas will expand into the spaces being vacated by administration at the company’s headquarters located on Kittridge St. just west of De Soto. “We need to grow our research area and our manufacturing area so that we can keep up with the demands of our customers,” said One Lambda vice president Don Arii. “We’re in a very dynamic area which is constantly changing.” One Lambda’s research department, which constitutes roughly one third of the corporation, has produced technology that has revolutionized the industry during the course of the past two decades, helping position the company at the forefront of the transplant diagnostic technologies industry, he said. Terasaki, who remains on as chairman and principal owner of One Lambda, first got involved in the field of tissue-matching (called histocompatibility) in 1964, when he developed a test that was accepted as the international standard for tissue-typing. The procedure determines the compatibility of tissue from organ donors and recipients. Precise tissue matching is vital in transplant procedures to prevent organ rejection and other complications. 7 product lines Through the years One Lambda has grown to include seven major product lines all focused on better matching an organ donor with a patient. One Lambda’s marketing director Ricardo Ordonez explained much of he company’s growth today has to do with better patient care in the transplantation industry, especially in kidney and bone marrow transplants, where doctors are now monitoring patients’ antibody levels on a regular basis after they receive the transplant to make sure the body doesn’t reject it. “Detecting antibodies before the transplant has always been done but over the past years, more and more studies show that monitoring patients afterwards is just as critical,” Ordonez said. “The field of Post Transplant Monitors is growing at an amazing rate.” One Lambda develops the highly technologically advanced testing kits that allow clinicians to test antibodies using a Luminex machine, which is widely used in the medical field for drug-discovery, diagnostics and research. In the highly specialized, small but growing niche of organ transplants, One Lambda faces little competition. “Our clientele is global, every major transplant center in the world is a client of One Lambda,” said Arii. Adding employees With a revenue growth rate of 15 percent for 2010, One Lambda will also grow to 300 employees from 250, by the end of the year. In 2011 the company plans to hire an additional 40 workers. “It has been our focus since the day it was founded to continue to provide service and products to the transplant industry and to continue to improve and provide better products that improve the transplant process,” said Keegan. “The fact that we are expanding is a commentary on our success in meeting the needs of our customers in that area. It’s a very exciting time for us.” The expansion is also a commentary on the local community, Keegan added. “When we were considering the expansion we looked into where the future of the San Fernando Valley lay, and where the people that we’d like to attract to the company would want to work and hopefully live, and we were very happy to find a location in Woodland Hills that suits our needs,” he said. The building at 21200 Oxnard Street was acquired by one of the major shareholders of One Lambda for $9.2 million and the corporation will now lease the space from the shareholder’s property management firm. “This was a strategic acquisition in close proximity to their existing facilities which meets their expansion needs,” said David Hoffberg of Delphi Business Properties, who along with Jerry Scullin represented One Lambda in the transaction, which closed Sept. 24. “They are a growing company; they maxed out the space where they are right now, so they will leverage their existing facilities and supplement them to provide for this growth.” One Lambda is expected to move into the new facilities in early 2011. One Lambda Year Founded: 1984 Location: Canoga Park Core of Business: Tests to match organ donors and recipients Employees: 250
Growing Biotech Firm Adding Space in Warner Center
