Company awarded government project agreement
to onshore key pharmaceutical supply chains, alongside strategic
investment from In-Q-Tel and Echo
MENLO
PARK, Calif., July 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Antheia, the
pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer transforming essential
medicine supply chains, today announced $17
million in new funding via a government project agreement
through the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium
(BioMaP-Consortium), alongside matching support from new strategic
investors. The combined funding will support onshoring the
production of critical pharmaceutical ingredients to the U.S. and
accelerating the company's commercialization strategy. The funding
includes a non-dilutive two-year project agreement up to
$11 million through the BioMaP
Consortium and additional investment from In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT),
Echo Investment Capital (Echo), and several existing investors,
including Viking Global Investors.
"Biotechnology has a critical role to play in U.S. national and
economic security," said Dr. Christina Smolke, Antheia CEO and
co-founder. "With the support of both the public and private
sectors, we can leverage this technology to bolster essential
medicine production in the U.S., with an agile, scalable
biomanufacturing approach that leapfrogs existing pharmaceutical
manufacturing practices."
The BioMaP-Consortium is a multiple-purpose acquisition vehicle
supporting the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development
Authority (BARDA) and is composed of pharmaceutical, medical,
academic, and scientific organizations. This project has been
funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for
Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Office of Industrial
Base Manufacturing and Supply Chain (IBMSC), under OT number
#75A50123D00003.
The BioMaP-Consortium aims to meet the U.S. public health
preparedness and response requirements by expanding the industrial
and manufacturing base for medical countermeasures. As part of the
BioMaP-Consortium award, Antheia will demonstrate the domestic
production of three critical pharmaceutical ingredients at
population scale using advanced biomanufacturing
processes.
In addition to the BioMaP-Consortium project agreement, Antheia
brought in matching support from new strategic investors –
including IQT and Echo – that represent the intersection of
innovation, national security, and domestic manufacturing. IQT
connects cutting edge innovation from the private sector to
the U.S. government and its allies to advance national
security in the 21st century. Echo is a multi-strategy investment
firm that connects overlooked domestic resources and infrastructure
with world-class founders, ideas, and capital to generate
exceptional financial and social returns.
"The U.S. is a leader in biomanufacturing, synthetic biology,
and computational biology, but there is more we must do to scale
these advanced technologies to solve global problems
like essential medicine shortages," said Eugene Chiu, Senior Partner, IQT. "We are
excited to support Antheia in advancing the U.S. bioeconomy
and building resilient pharmaceutical supply chains."
"Antheia's disruptive innovation is dramatically changing the
outlook for security and resiliency of our biopharmaceutical supply
chains," said Christian Kanady, Founding Partner & CEO,
Echo. "We are proud to partner in advancing Antheia's
groundbreaking technologies and importantly renewing the
domestic bioeconomy in the process."
Today's financing news comes on the heels of significant 2024
momentum, including the company's validated process for its first
product , thebaine, and the opportunity to host U.S. Secretary
of State, Antony J. Blinken at its
labs for a discussion on the importance of a robust domestic
bioeconomy. Antheia continues to deliver on its commercial strategy
and plans to ship its first orders to customers later this
year.
About Antheia
Antheia is the next-generation
pharmaceutical ingredient producer transforming essential
medicine supply chains to end drug shortages. Using its novel
whole-cell engineering approach, Antheia's biomanufacturing
platform enables the reconstruction of biosynthetic pathways of
unprecedented complexity in yeast cells and the scaling of
fermentation processes to commercial levels. This highly
flexible approach enables on-demand, agile, and resilient
biomanufacturing of critical pharmaceutical ingredients, replacing
legacy approaches that cannot support the needs of modern
healthcare. For more information, visit www.antheia.bio.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mission North for Antheia
antheia@missionnorth.com
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SOURCE Antheia