First Vermont Biotech Firm
To Receive Initial Production Orders

(WED., Oct. 16) -- Senator Patrick Leahy announced that Triosyn Corp. of Williston will receive an additional contract from the Defense Department to develop an advanced air filter for the U.S. armed forces.  Leahy made sure that four million dollars to integrate the Triosyn polymer into air filters was included in this year’s Defense Department budget bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday.  The bill now goes to the desk of President Bush, who is expected to sign it.

“I am pleased that a Vermont firm is helping to meet the bioterrorism threat,” said Leahy, who is a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which handled the Senate’s work in writing the annual Defense Department budget bill.  “This technology will protect American service members deployed abroad from harmful viruses and bacteria.  It also has many commercial applications that will help make Vermonters and all Americans safer.”

Triosyn President Pierre Messier said, “I am very pleased with the tremendous support provided by Senator Leahy and his staff on the funding that Triosyn Corp. received for a critical program that meets one of our firm's strategic goals, as well as assist in the economic development of Vermont.”

Montreal-based Triosyn Corp. is the first biotechnology firm to open a manufacturing facility in Vermont.  The Burlington facility will integrate the Triosyn polymer, which effectively kills viral and bacterial pathogens on contact, into a variety of filters.

This will be the second year of funding for DOD contracts Triosyn that Leahy has shepherded through Congress.  In August Leahy announced $1.3 million for an Army program and $2.8 million for an Air Force program, both of which advance filtration technology.  Triosyn was able to establish itself in Vermont with these earlier funds.  These latest funds will be used by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to pay for the second year of the air filter research and development program, including the first production orders for the new filters, which can be installed into standard filter receptacles.  With the filters, the Air Force, for example, will be able to protect the Aerial Expeditionary Forces deployed throughout the Middle East.  

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