# Antheia, Inc.

> Antheia is a Menlo Park biotech using engineered yeast to brew the active ingredients behind essential medicines - replacing slow, weather-dependent poppy farming with industrial-scale fermentation. Founded out of Stanford's Smolke Lab, the company aims to end pharmaceutical shortages by turning sugar into complex molecules like thebaine in weeks instead of years.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** Menlo Park, California, United States
- **Founders:** Christina Smolke (Co-Founder & CEO), Kristy Hawkins (Co-Founder & CSO)
- **Team size:** ~65
- **Products:** Thebaine, Biosynthetic KSMs and APIs, Biosynthesis Platform
- **Notable:** First commercial delivery of biosynthetic thebaine in October 2024, Published complete biosynthesis of medical opiates in yeast (Science, 2015), Published advanced tropane alkaloid biosynthesis (Nature, 2020)

## Products & services

- **Thebaine** — First commercial product - a key starting material for pain, addiction, and overdose-rescue medicines including naloxone (Narcan).
- **Biosynthetic KSMs and APIs** — Pipeline of key starting materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients produced via engineered yeast fermentation, including oripavine and scopolamine.
- **Biosynthesis Platform** — Proprietary synthetic biology, strain engineering, and bioprocess platform that compresses production timelines from years to weeks.

## Achievements

- First commercial delivery of biosynthetic thebaine in October 2024
- Published complete biosynthesis of medical opiates in yeast (Science, 2015)
- Published advanced tropane alkaloid biosynthesis (Nature, 2020)
- Raised $262M+ total funding
- Featured by Axios, WSJ, FiercePharma, SynBioBeta

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Closed Series C extension of roughly $24M to expand US production strategy.
- **2025-06** — Raised $56M Series C led by new investors to scale commercial APIs.
- **2024-10** — First commercial delivery of thebaine to a top-tier pharmaceutical client via CDMO partner Olon.

## Links

- Website: https://antheia.bio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/antheiabio
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/antheiabio

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/antheia-inc
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-19