Interpharm Announces Plans for Expansion of Product Line and Capacity
COMMACK, N.Y., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Interpharm Holdings, Inc. ("Interpharm") , announced today its plans for new product development and
expansion of production capacity. The transaction whereby Interpharm became a
publicly listed company on the American Stock Exchange in May 2003 resulted in
approximately $3.6 million in cash proceeds from the sale of the Atec Group,
Inc. computer operations. In addition, the exercise of stock options held by
former Atec employees resulted in approximately an additional $2.7 million in
cash. As previously announced, Interpharm has been focusing on utilizing these
resources in a manner that would best serve the company's growth.
Interpharm has assembled a new internal Research and Development team that will
be in place by mid-November, 2003. In addition, Interpharm plans to
significantly enhance its Research and Development laboratory in the coming
months by committing additional capital. Bob Sutaria, President of Interpharm
stated that "Our R & D team will be provided substantial resources and support.
We have budgeted expenditures of between $2 million to $3 million on R & D over
the next twelve to fifteen months, and we believe we can increase our pipeline
of drugs under various stages of development by at least ten to twelve in the
same period." Interpharm currently markets 19 products, representing various
dosage strengths for 11 distinct drugs, and has five new drugs that are under
development.
Interpharm also continues to experience increased demand from its existing
customers for its existing product line. To that end, Interpharm has spent
approximately $2 million on capital improvements since January 1, 2003,
including two new packaging lines, one of which went into operation in October,
2003 and the other is anticipated to be operational in December, 2003. Prior to
October, Interpharm had two packaging lines. Interpharm has budgeted
expenditures of approximately $1 million over the next six to eight months on
additional equipment, including the addition of a fifth packaging line to
supplement the three existing lines and one that is currently being added.
As announced in July 2003, Interpharm has entered into a relationship with
URL/Mutual to contract manufacture four drugs. Interpharm has already begun
manufacturing two drugs: Atenolol and Allopurinol. Surinder Rametra, Director
of Business Development explained the importance of this and other similar
relationships. "We are very cognizant that strategic alliances such as the one
with URL/Mutual are important to the growth of our business. We have a number
of similar alliances in various stages of discussion, and will continue working
to complete them in the coming months." Interpharm's management has conducted a detailed analysis of its current
capacity and needs over the next few years. As a result, Interpharm determined
that it would need to increase capacity in the next two years to support its
growth. Several months ago, Interpharm began the process of searching for a new
building to add approximately 100,000 square feet of space and identified
several prospects. Interpharm has negotiated the material terms of, and is
currently working to complete a contract for, the acquisition of a building of
approximately 100,000 square feet in Long Island, New York. Bob Sutaria, stated
"The purchase of a new building is important to the implementation of our growth
strategy. Once Interpharm is able to consummate the purchase of a new building,
we will have two facilities with a combined size of approximately 200,000 square
feet." In order to be used for manufacturing, a new building will need to be
approved by the FDA. Pending such approval, a new building could be used for
warehousing and other activities, thereby creating additional capacity in
Interpharm's current manufacturing plant.
Dr. Maganlal Sutaria, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of
Directors of Interpharm, when commenting on Interpharm's plans for expansion,
stated, "I am immensely proud of Bob and the rest of our management team for
their tireless efforts at growing Interpharm's business and developing its
current strategy for expansion of the product line and capacity. With so many
external changes in the company, the Interpharm team has been able to achieve
this by never losing focus of our corporate philosophy of growth through honest
business dealings." Forward-looking Statements Statements made in this news release may contain forward-looking statements
concerning Interpharm Holdings, Inc.'s business and products involving risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
reflected in the forward-looking statements. The actual results may differ
materially depending on a number of risk factors including, but not limited to,
the following: general economic and business conditions, development, shipment,
market acceptance, additional competition from existing and new competitors,
changes in technology, and various other factors beyond Interpharm Holdings,
Inc's control. Other risks inherent in Interpharm Holdings, Inc.'s business are
described in ATEC Group, Inc.'s Definitive Proxy Statement, filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on May 2, 2003, and our Form 10-K, filed on
September 29, 2003. The acquisition of Interpharm, Inc. is described in the
foregoing proxy materials, as well as in ATEC's Form 8-K, filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2003, our Form 8-K, filed on
June 16, 2003 and our amended Form 8-K, filed on August 11, 2003. Interpharm
Holdings, Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. DATASOURCE: Interpharm Holdings, Inc.
CONTACT: Munish K. Rametra, General Counsel of Interpharm Holdings, Inc., +1-631-543-2800 ext. 406 Web site: http://www.interpharminc.com/
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