SAINT-GENIS-POUILLY, France, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A. (NASDAQ:AAAP) (“AAA” or “the Company”), an international specialist in Molecular Nuclear Medicine (MNM), today announced the opening of its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Millburn, NJ.
The 15,000 square foot facility features 12 production lines dedicated to Lutathera, as well as storage and office space. The site is conveniently located near Newark airport, enabling future delivery of Lutathera directly to hospitals and treatment centers around the country. There are currently more than 15 pharmaceutical manufacturing, sales and marketing, and administrative employees working on site, with plans to expand to 50 people.
In addition, the Millburn plant serves as a distribution center for NETSPOT™, a AAA product recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the preparation of Gallium Ga 68 dotatate for injection, a first in class drug for the localization of somatostatin receptor positive neuroendocrine tumors in adult and pediatric patients using Positron Emission Tomography (“PET”). Oxygen-18 enriched water, an important precursor for the production of fluorodeoxyglucose used in PET, is also distributed by the new facility on behalf of Marshall Isotopes, an AAA company.
“We are excited to have our first U.S. manufacturing facility operational in preparation for the anticipated approval and launch of Lutathera,” said Stefano Buono, Chief Executive Officer of AAA. “The Millburn plant is our 22nd manufacturing site globally and we believe this facility will provide us with sufficient capacity to meet future demand for Lutathera in the North American market and manage distribution of our new generation of PET products.”
About Lutathera
Lutathera (or lutetium Lu 177 dotatate) is a Lu-177-labeled somatostatin analogue peptide currently in development for the treatment of gastro entero pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), including foregut, midgut, and hindgut neuroendocrine tumors in adults. Lutathera belongs to an emerging form of treatments called Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (“PRRT“), which involves targeting carcinoid tumors with radiolabeled somatostatin analogue peptides. This novel compound has received orphan drug designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lutathera was also granted fast-track designation by the FDA in April 2015 for the treatment of inoperable progressive midgut NETs. Lutathera is also currently administered on a compassionate use and named patient basis for the treatment of NETs and other tumors over-expressing somatostatin receptors in ten European countries and in the US under an Expanded Access Program (EAP) for midgut NETs. In an analysis of the Phase 3 trial’s primary endpoint of PFS assessment completed by the Company in September 2015, the number of disease progressions or deaths was 23 events in the Lutathera arm and 68 in the Octreotide LAR 60 mg arm. The NETTER-1 study met its primary endpoint by demonstrating that treatment with Lutathera was associated with a statistically significant and clinically meaningful risk reduction of 79% of disease progression or death versus Octreotide LAR 60 mg (hazard ratio 0.21, 95% CI: 0.13-0.33; p<0.0001).
NDA and MAA submissions to the FDA and EMA are currently under review and the FDA has granted Priority Review.
About Advanced Accelerator Applications
Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) is an innovative radiopharmaceutical company that develops, produces and commercializes Molecular Nuclear Medicine (MNM) products. AAA’s lead therapeutic product candidate, Lutathera, is a novel MNM compound that AAA is currently developing for the treatment of Neuro Endocrine Tumors, a significant unmet medical need. Founded in 2002, AAA has its headquarters in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France. AAA currently has 22 production and R&D facilities able to manufacture both diagnostics and therapeutic MNM products, and has over 450 employees in 13 countries (France, Italy, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, U.S. and Canada). AAA reported sales of €88.6 million in 2015 (+26.8% vs. 2014) and sales of €26.9 million for 1Q 2016 (+29.6% vs. 1Q15). AAA is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker “AAAP”. For more information, please visit: www.adacap.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this press release, including statements regarding the Company's strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "target," "potential," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changing market conditions, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the timing of our submission of applications for regulatory approvals, EMA, FDA and other regulatory approvals for our product candidates, the occurrence of side effects or serious adverse events caused by or associated with our products and product candidates; our ability to procure adequate quantities of necessary supplies and raw materials for Lutathera and other chemical compounds acceptable for use in our manufacturing processes from our suppliers; our ability to organize timely and safe delivery of our products or product candidates by third parties; any problems with the manufacture, quality or performance of our products or product candidates; the rate and degree of market acceptance and the clinical utility of Lutathera and our other products or product candidates; our estimates regarding the market opportunity for Lutathera, our other product candidates and our existing products; our anticipation that we will generate higher sales as we diversify our products; our ability to implement our growth strategy including expansion in the U.S.; our ability to sustain and create additional sales, marketing and distribution capabilities; our intellectual property and licensing position; legislation or regulation in countries where we sell our products that affect product pricing, taxation, reimbursement, access or distribution channels; and general economic, political, demographic and business conditions in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.