Pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Antheia recently announced $17m 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 US and accelerating the company’s commercialisation strategy. It includes a non-dilutive two-year project agreement up to $11m through the BioMaP Consortium and additional investments from strategic partners, including In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT) and Echo Investment Capital (Echo).
IQT connects cutting edge innovation from the private sector to the US 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.
“Biotechnology has a critical role to play in US national and economic security,” says Dr. Christina Smolke, CEO and co-founder at Antheia. “With the support of both the public and private sectors, we can leverage this technology to bolster essential medicine production in the US 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 organisations. It aims to meet the US 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.
“The US 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,” says Eugene Chiu, Senior Partner at IQT. “We are excited to support Antheia in advancing the US 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,” says Christian Kanady, Founding Partner & CEO of Echo. “We are proud to partner in advancing Antheia’s groundbreaking technologies and importantly renewing the domestic bioeconomy in the process.”
Antheia’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 US 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.
Learn more about Anthia here.
Source: Antheia
