Affiliate of Amethyst Tech, Advent Laboratories, to Move to Western Maryland and Create 20 Jobs
August 24, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Advent Laboratories, a startup laboratory currently located in Baltimore, is making plans to relocate to Frostburg in western Maryland.
According to Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine, the company plans to move to the Allegany Business Center technology park located at Frostburg State University. The company’s chief executive officer, Kimberly Brown, says Advent will create 20 jobs or more within the first year.
Brown is also the founder, chief executive officer and president of Amethyst Technologies. Amethyst offers ISO 9001:2008 and 17025:2005 compliant quality program development and services in support of international health, research, drug development and manufacturing. Prior to her work with Amethyst, Brown was the Validation Manager at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. She received her doctorate in chemical engineering in 2001 from the University of Maryland College Park.
Amethyst brings in annual revenue of $2 million, and its clients include Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Coca-Cola, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, and a list of biotech companies.
In a May 2016 article in the Baltimore Times, Brown said, “Our expertise has allowed us to provide support for different projects. That support includes developing thousands of standard operating procedures for labs, training in Liberia and Tanzania, stakeholder engagement to develop a cancer center in East Africa, assessing laboratories in East and West Africa for malaria and HIV programs, validating software developed by the U.S. Army laboratories for training and management of clinical studies, and developing software to decrease the incidents of Malaria in U.S. and Africa militaries.”
Brown founded Amethyst while working for a company called Cell Systems, Inc., while she was completing her doctorate. Brown told the Baltimore Times, “The position involved providing engineering services for Walter Reed’s pilot bioproduction facility. I developed software for quality assurance programs for this vaccine production facility. … After working there for nine years, I talked to my boss and told him I was interested in starting my own business. He said, ‘great, I am ready to retire.’ I purchased the rights to the government contract, and Amethyst assumed the contract. It provided continuity for Walter Reed, and presented a wonderful opportunity for Amethyst Technologies.”
Although Advent Laboratories doesn’t appear to have a website, and not much information is available, it is listed on the bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park as a Resident Company. It falls under the category of Life Science and Technology Incubator Companies.
Advent “provides analytical analysis, stability testing, research and development, validation, microbial testing, contract laboratories, and retain services. Our facility is fully equipped with the latest technologies and testing services are in accordance to ISO 17025, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), State of Maryland, and applicable federal requirements.”
Apparently it provides comprehensive laboratory testing for a laundry list of testing samples, including Finished Pharmaceuticals, Herbal Products, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Raw Materials, Water, Soil, Excipients, Agriculture Products, and Food Products. It says on the bwtech page, “We provide quality assurance and regulatory services to laboratories in the areas of research, clinical trials, and manufacturing.”
The bwtech@UMBC is an incubator in Maryland, and is on 71 acres close to BWI Thurgood Marshall airport and adjacent to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).