Michelex Corp (fka MLXO)

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MARCH 8, 2011 Pristine Pharma Starts Operations

By BRIAN HAYDEN

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2011

MASSENA - Pristine Pharma Corp. has begun its manufacturing operations here.

The company shipped out its first medicine on Feb. 23, according to Pristine CEO Venkat E. Kakani.

Pristine Pharma produced a batch of Dewitts Worm Syrup to be exported to customers in Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica. That shipment of de-worming medication came a week after the company registered with the Food and Drug Administration.

Seven employees currently work at the 32,000- square-foot plant on County Route 42: two consultants, a chemist, a mechanical engineer, an operations staffer and two packaging employees.

Three of those hires came from applications filed in the New York state Labor Department's Massena office, Mr. Kakani said. The company is still expecting to grow to 25 employees at the facility by the end of March.

The company's first medicine shipment came only months after New Jersey- based Pristine bought the former Michele Audio building from Massena businessman Thomas Gramuglia.

The Massena plant is the first manufacturing facility owned by Pristine, which had previously contracted its work out to other pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Massena's proximity to the Canadian market and the Port of Montreal were high selling points to locate the company in Massena, Mr. Kakani said previously.

"We are very happy," Mr. Kakani said. "We are very proud to bring that plant there in a short amount of time."

Pristine Pharma recently landed a $2 million contract with a U.S.-based Russian export company to produce aspirin for Russian customers. Aspirin will likely be produced in the plant in the next two to three months, Mr. Kakani said.

The company is also finalizing a contract to make nasal spray for Russian customers. If that contract comes through, nasal spray will be produced in the next four to five months.

A multi-million dollar contract is also being negotiated with a U.S- based nursing home medicine supplier, Mr. Kakani said.

"If they come through, the plant will be full very soon," Mr. Kakani said.

Pristine Pharma is still planning to grow to 100 employees in the next 18 months. Approximately 30 percent of those jobs would be chemists, pharmacists and skilled engineers. The rest of the jobs would be in assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution.

http://www.mpcourier.com/article/20110308/DCO01/303089914/-1/dco