A St. Louis-based nonprofit organization focused on strengthening the U.S. supply chain for pharmaceutical ingredients has received a $9.5 million grant from Missouri Technology Corp. (MTC).
The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Innovation Center @ Cortex (APIIC) said the funding from MTC, part of state government, will help fund its initiatives aimed at increasing U.S. manufacturing for the pharmaceutical industry.
Launched in 2021, the APIIC is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that seeks to bring together businesses, researchers, academics and experts to find ways in which the U.S. can increase production of pharmaceutical ingredients. It launched through the Cortex Innovation Community.
“We believe Missouri can be the national leader in API reshoring, sparking job growth and strengthening our position as a hub for innovation,” said Tony Sardella, chair of APIIC. “Our public-private model to build a resilient pharmaceutical manufacturing base could be a successful model for the nation.”
Created by the Missouri General Assembly, MTC is a public-private partnership designed to promote entrepreneurship and provide investment to startups and entrepreneur support organizations. Its fiscal 2023 budget included $15 million to create the MTC Advanced Manufacturing Resiliency Grant Program, focused on "creating infrastructure for industries that are fundamental to the national security of the United States and where the manufacturing of essential products has become reliant on production outside of the United States."
“We have identified several different drug classes with no U.S. source of active ingredients that can be produced here in Missouri using advanced manufacturing, which ultimately will drive down drug production cost,” said Kevin Webb, chief operating officer of APIIC. “Funding from the MTC will further allow us to advance the production of these critical medicines and strengthen our supply chain.”
APICC has embarked on its first project, seeking to boost production of a drug to treat brain cancer. Its first reshoring target is the drug lomustine, used to treat glioblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer the National Brain Tumor Society estimates will have about 13,400 diagnoses this year in the U.S. The cancer has a five-year survival rate of 6.8%, according to the organization.
