Antheia, the pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer transforming essential medicine supply chains, announced $17 million in new funding through a government project agreement through the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium (BioMaP-Consortium), along with matching support from new strategic investors.
This combined funding will support onshoring the production of critical pharmaceutical ingredients to the U.S. and accelerating the company’s commercialization strategy. And 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.
The BioMaP-Consortium is a multiple-purpose acquisition vehicle that is supporting the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and is composed of pharmaceutical, medical, academic, and scientific organizations. And 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 also aims to meet the U.S. public health preparedness and response requirements by expanding the industrial and manufacturing base for medical countermeasures. And 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.
Along with 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. And IQT connects 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 connecting overlooked domestic resources and infrastructure with world-class founders, ideas, and capital to generate exceptional financial and social returns.
This funding 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 domestic bioeconomy. And Antheia continues to deliver on its commercial strategy and plans to ship its first orders to customers later this year.
KEY QUOTES:
“Biotechnology has a critical role to play in U.S. national and economic security. 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.”
– Dr. Christina Smolke, Antheia CEO and co-founder
“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. We are excited to support Antheia in advancing the U.S. bioeconomy and building resilient pharmaceutical supply chains.”
– Eugene Chiu, Senior Partner, IQT
“Antheia’s disruptive innovation is dramatically changing the outlook for security and resiliency of our biopharmaceutical supply chains. We are proud to partner in advancing Antheia’s groundbreaking technologies and importantly renewing the domestic bioeconomy in the process.”
– Christian Kanady, Founding Partner & CEO, Echo
