New CEO and EUR2.3m Private Placement for Atacama Labs Oy

USA - English

• USA - English

HELSINKI, February 8 /PRNewswire/ -- As of January 2010 Mr. Steffen Mittwich has been appointed as new CEO for Atacama Labs Oy, a Finnish specialty pharmaceutical company, which has developed a unique pneumatic dry granulation method called PDG Technology(TM). Mr. Mittwich is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In his new role, Mr. Mittwich will focus on building up of the company and establishing partnerships with galenic development and contract manufacturing partners. In addition, his extensive experience of pharmaceutical industry will be helpful in establishing client cooperation and joint ventures.

Mr. Mittwich has worked in pharma industry since 1992 and has held several management positions within major European and international pharmaceutical companies, such as Sanofi-aventis, Aventis Pharma, and Pfizer. His latest position at Sanofi-aventis was Regional Business Director and CEO Winthrop Pharmaceuticals. Steffen Mittwich is Industrial Economics Engineer from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

"I am very delighted of my appointment. It is not every day you get a chance to lead into the market an excellent invention in base technology with a fast developing company. For me, it is a real entrepreneurial challenge which I love to take on," says Steffen Mittwich.

Additionally, Atacama Labs Oy raised EUR2.3m additional capital by private placement completed in January 2010, from both Finnish and International private investors. "This capital investment enables Atacama Labs to move from the R&D phase into the commercial phase, and to launch the revolutionary PDG Technology for the traditional drug manufacturing field," says Steffen Mittwich.

The members of Atacama's board of directors are Mr. Jari Ovaskainen (former CEO/founder of iobox.com), Mr. Ari-Pekka Hameri (Ph.D., Professor of Process Technology) and Mr. Gregoire Notz (Geneva based investor). "Mr. Mittwich was selected out of numerous executive candidates, and he has the required skills and the industry background to steer Atacama Labs Oy into the commercial growth. We are very excited to work with him," says Mr. Ovaskainen, Chairman of the Board.

Atacama Labs pneumatic dry granulation or PDG Technology(TM) is revolutionary in the sense that it offers exceptional advantages compared to all existing granule/tablet manufacturing processes. "Our clients can extend the patent life of expiring drugs, which can mean several more years of protected sales of a blockbuster drug, or they can also convert very difficult or almost impossible drug compound materials into a perfected tablet. In both cases, economics can be hundreds of millions in global additional revenue or more, naturally subject to magnitude of drug revenue," Mr. Mittwich concludes.

Atacama's PDG Technology(TM) enables rapid development and processing of all drug substances. The technology replaces the traditional wet granulation technology, which is known as a complex process and has always challenges in production quality and operational control. The PDG equipment is fully automated and installed in a cGMP compliant environment.

About Atacama Labs Oy

Atacama Labs Oy is a privately owned specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug delivery technologies. The Company is located in Helsinki, Finland. http://www.atacamalabs.com

SOURCE Atacama Labs Oy