Kite Pharma, the cancer cell-therapy company Gilead Sciences acquired for $11.9 billion in 2017, is splitting its headquarters between Thousand Oaks and El Segundo by the end of 2026.
The company announced the move in a LinkedIn post, the Pacific Coast Business Times reported Monday, Sept. 14. Kite is leaving its current Santa Monica base for the two Southern California locations. The specific Thousand Oaks address has not been disclosed.
Founded in 2009, Kite develops engineered cell therapies that reprogram a patient's own immune cells to fight cancer. The company manufactures two FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies, Yescarta and Tecartus, and employs between 1,001 and 5,000 people across facilities in California, Maryland and the Netherlands, according to its LinkedIn profile. It also operates a facility in Oceanside.
"Our focus is on ensuring every appropriate patient who needs our CAR T-cell therapies can access and benefit from these treatments," Christophe Griolet, Kite's U.S. vice president and general manager, said in a June 2026 press release announcing a distribution deal with Cencora.
The relocation adds a major name to the Conejo Valley's biotech cluster. About 20 life sciences firms already operate in and around Thousand Oaks, including Atara Biotherapeutics, Capsida Biotherapeutics, Latigo Biotherapeutics and Tokyo-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Amgen anchors that cluster. The company broke ground in October 2025 on a more than $600 million center for science and innovation at its Thousand Oaks global headquarters, a project expected to create hundreds of jobs.
More commercial space is coming. Shapell Properties received unanimous Thousand Oaks City Council approval in November 2025 for Conejo Summit, a 50-acre, 750,000-square-foot industrial campus in the Rancho Conejo business park adjacent to Amgen's headquarters.
Latigo Biotherapeutics, another Thousand Oaks firm, completed an upsized initial public offering in August 2026, raising gross proceeds of $397.4 million, according to the company's second-quarter financial report.
Kite has not disclosed how many employees will move to Thousand Oaks or whether it plans to hire locally. No reaction from Thousand Oaks city officials has been reported. The company's relocation is expected by the end of 2026, though no specific opening date or permit filings have been announced.
