Atrix Laboratories, Inc., an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company, announced that major construction has been completed on the company's 32,000 square foot expansion of its manufacturing facility, which now totals 58,000 square feet. The company has received the certificate of occupancy and has started the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-mandated validation process.

"The need to be prepared for the growth of our prostate cancer product line as well as the anticipated addition of other marketed products necessitated the expansion of our facility," said David R. Bethune, Atrix's chairman and chief executive officer. "Now, we have significantly increased the size of the facility, added space for a state-of-the-art quality assurance laboratory and increased warehouse space."

Michael Duncan, vice president of technical operations commented, "We have begun the validation process required by the FDA for each individual process added to the facility. Some processes we expect will be fully validated by the end of the month while other processes are more extensive and we expect will be completed by late 2003."