Morphotek Expands Operations and Relocates to New Facility in Exton, PA.

Morphotek Inc. announced today that it has relocated its headquarters and R&D operations to a newly renovated 41,000 sq. ft. facility located in Exton, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. The facility is located on a six-acre site adjacent to two major interstate highways and is easily accessible from the Philadelphia International Airport. The new site is expandable up to 73,000 sq. ft and includes state-of-the-art modules to support the development and production of pharmaceutical and agricultural-based products in addition to dedicated space for warehousing and general administration offices. Financial support for the facility renovations was provided through a capital lease by GE Capital Corp, The Ben Franklin Technology Partners Gateway Program, tenant improvement funds provided by Tripoint Properties and proceeds from Morphotek's private equity financing that was announced in the third quarter of 2001.

"GE's commitment to Morphotek is in line with our company's mission to form long-term alliances with emerging biotechnology companies that have a strong technology platform and sound business model," said Christopher J. Morel, Vice President, Life Science & Technology Finance. "GE Capital looks forward to supporting the near and long-term financial needs of Morphotek as the company continues to expand its innovative platform technology for product development and executes its projected growth."

"Morphotek is extremely pleased and fortunate to relocate to a highly accessible, multifunctional facility that will serve as our new head quarters as well as support the growing needs of our diverse technology platforms for pharmaceutical and agricultural product development," commented Nicholas C. Nicolaides, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Morphotek. "This facility will be sufficient to support the growing needs of our academic and corporate partnerships as well as provide necessary office space for our expanding administrative staff."

"We designed the office and laboratory space with expansion in mind," added Philip M. Sass, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer of Morphotek. "The company is experiencing a rapid growth phase and we have implemented the physical infrastructure necessary to support a flexible expansion of our operations to meet the needs of our current and future strategic alliances."

Morphotek (www.morphotek.com) is a biotechnology company focused on the generation of proprietary organisms for product development using a patented platform technology that can enhance the natural process of genetic evolution within a targeted host. The technology has been successfully applied to microbes, plants, and mammals to yield genetically diverse offspring that are suitable for pharmaceutical and agricultural product development in the areas of antibody therapeutics, protein therapeutics, product manufacturing, drug target discovery, and improved output traits for commercial applications. The company is currently focusing its platform on the development and manufacturing of therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and infectious disease.

For Information Contact:
Dr. Nicholas C. Nicolaides, President, CEO and CSO
Morphotek Inc.
610-423-6102

Back to 2002 News Archive