Altea Therapeutics to Locate New Headquarters in Atlanta

Altea Therapeutics to Locate New Headquarters in Atlanta

Life Sciences Facilities Fund Keeps More than 70 high-paying jobs in Georgia

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Altea Therapeutics is locating its new headquarters in Atlanta, retaining more than 70 high-paying jobs in Georgia and allowing for company expansion that is expected over the next several years.

“Keeping Altea Therapeutics in the state and enabling the company to expand is a great win for Georgia,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “As the state looks to aggressively build on our reputation in the life sciences industry, this announcement underscores the wealth of resources and talented workforce that Georgia provides the high-tech sector.”

The new Altea Therapeutics headquarters will be located at the new Technology Enterprise Park that will be built on North Avenue near the Georgia Tech campus. The company expects to add 12 new jobs during 2006, and an additional 15 or more by the end of 2007. The average yearly salary of the Altea Therapeutics workforce is $85,000. This will be the first project to receive a loan from Georgia’s Life Sciences Facilities Fund (LSFF), a revolving-loan fund that allows the state to attract projects in the highly-competitive bio/life sciences industry. Last week, Governor Perdue announced in his FY2007 budget recommendation an additional $5 million to the LSFF.

“Georgia must become a state of innovation. We are making innovation our competitive advantage in every area of our economy – including the growth industries of the future, such as life sciences,” said Governor Perdue. “The additional $5 million for the Life Sciences Facilities Fund will help provide growing bioscience firms with the facilities they need to continue their growth here in Georgia.”

Altea Therapeutics is an emerging private pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing a broad portfolio of pharmaceutical products based on a new class of transdermal patches. These patches deliver sustained therapeutic levels of proteins and water-soluble drugs in a convenient, painless and cost-effective manner.

Altea Therapeutics has demonstrated in several clinical studies that its patented PassPort™ transdermal system achieves what existing patches are unable to do, namely the continuous delivery through the skin of proteins and water-soluble drugs – compounds typically administered by painful needle injections.

The company has completed its first Phase 2 clinical trials in the U.S. with a daily hydromorphone patch for the rapid management of moderate to severe pain, and is undertaking Phase 1 clinical trials in the U.S. with insulin patches that provide continuous delivery of basal levels of insulin for people with diabetes.

“Most life sciences companies require significant and unique infrastructure to develop their products,” said Eric Tomlinson, PhD, president and chief executive officer of Altea Therapeutics. “Through this development, the state of Georgia and Georgia Tech have continued to support the important contributions life sciences make to the economy of the state and for that we are sincerely grateful.”

Altea Therapeutics is currently based in Tucker, Georgia, but has outgrown the facilities there and could not expand at its present location. After an extensive location search, the company decided to remain in Georgia and selected the 11-acre Technology Enterprise Park (TEP), a new bioscience research and development park. Locating its headquarters at the new development provides an opportunity for Altea Therapeutics to build the new headquarters to suit its needs. Altea Therapeutics, the first tenant of the TEP, will occupy approximately 40,000 square feet of the 128,000 square-foot initial building at the park.

“Technology Enterprise Park is the latest addition to the successful and ongoing efforts to foster the commercialization of research at Georgia Tech through Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures,” said Robert Thompson, Georgia Tech’s senior vice president for administration and finance, who attended today’s groundbreaking for Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.

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