May 3, 2007 — /MARKET WIRE/ — SAN DIEGO, CA — Althea Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of innovative technologies and services for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, announced today it has completed the initial phase of construction on its new 30,000 sq. ft. cGMP manufacturing facility. Althea also announced that it has begun contract discussions with potential clients for future use of the increased manufacturing capacity. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and aseptic fill/finish wings are currently under construction. The warehouse and materials management section of the facility has been completed. Initial construction of the facility began in early January 2007, immediately following a successful financing of $23 million with Telegraph Hill Partners, located in San Francisco, CA.
The continuing facility expansion of Althea’s San Diego campus is focused on meeting current and future client demands for larger batch sizes as products move into Phase III and commercial manufacture. The new building is the third Althea facility located on the company’s San Diego campus and upon completion Althea will occupy a total of 80,000 sq. ft. The API facility features a fermentation train leading to 1,000 L scale batch production with appropriate downstream processing facilities. The aseptic fill/finish wing will include automated vial and syringe filling, inspection, and labeling equipment capable of producing batch sizes of 100,000 plus units.
Rick Hancock, Althea’s chief operations officer, stated, “The continuing growth of our facilities allows us to support our clients from pre-clinical through commercial-scale production. We are also supplementing our organizational infrastructure to support the increased program and systems requirements though an aggressive hiring program focused on recruiting additional seasoned quality and manufacturing staff for several positions.”
About Althea Technologies, Inc.
Althea Technologies, a leading San Diego-based pharmaceutical services firm, provides critical manufacturing and development services that support researchers worldwide in their advancement of novel therapies and efforts to apply new genomic information. Althea’s services include cGMP contract manufacturing of recombinant proteins, DNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, aseptic filling, and gene quantification using real-time PCR and gene expression analysis under GLP conditions. Additionally, Althea has introduced new services and technologies for the identification and development of genetic biomarkers with innovative programs such as the company’s proprietary eXpress PathwaySM. For more information, visit www.altheatech.com.
Source: Althea Technologies, Inc.
Contact:
Althea Technologies, Inc.
Alan Moore
Executive Vice President and CBO
(858) 882-0205