Dow and Diversa Advance Enzyme Candidates for Production Of Pharmaceutical Intermediates
MIDLAND, Mich. and SAN DIEGO, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW - news) and Diversa Corporation (Nasdaq: DVSA - news) announced they have expanded their agreement to identify biocatalytic processes to replace traditional and costly multi-step chemical synthesis.
The companies also report that several chiral pharmaceutical intermediate product candidates have been identified and two have been advanced into process development.
``We are very pleased with the exceptional progress we have made so far with Diversa,'' stated George Biltz, Vice President for Dow's Custom & Fine Chemicals global business unit. ``To date we have identified several highly enantioselective bioprocesses that can benefit pharmaceutical manufacturers by either reducing costs to manufacture and/or enabling the development of previously unattainable intermediates,'' continued Mr. Biltz.
``We are enthused to see that our proprietary technologies continue to accelerate product development for both Diversa and our partner Dow,'' stated Jay M. Short, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Diversa Corporation.
The collaboration combines Dow's capabilities in large-scale chemistry with Diversa's technologies for enzyme discovery and optimization. Since last November, Dow and Diversa have been jointly marketing these capabilities to develop and produce chiral compounds for active pharmaceutical ingredients, pharmaceutical intermediates, and other fine chemicals. Chiral technologies permit one isomer of a desired active ingredient to be produced exclusively, free from the unwanted mirror image form. Chirally pure chemicals are preferred by the pharmaceutical industry because they may provide lower toxicity, higher efficacy, lower manufacturing costs, and patent life extensions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Diversa uses its proprietary high-throughput technologies to identify and develop enzymes designed to exhibit enhanced performance that can be used as biocatalysts in the development of pure chiral compounds. Dow, through its focused Pharmaceutical Services organization, provides the process capability required to synthesize pharmaceutical products for the specific processes. Dow's capabilities include multi-step complex organic synthesis, cGMP capabilities as well as its own chiral chemistry technology gained by its acquisition of Chirotech Technology Ltd.
Dow's Custom & Fine Chemicals (C&FC) global business unit offers a broad range of technology and business resources, chemical manufacturing capabilities and process development expertise to companies involved with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, specialty chemical and specialty polymer products. The unit includes a separate Pharmaceutical Services business that focuses exclusively on the needs of pharmaceutical companies, from NCE discovery and development of small and large molecules through commercial manufacture of API's and technology development in the field of enhanced drug solubility. A second business in the unit, Dow Custom Processing Services, offers contract manufacturing with Dow's technology expertise for the chemical and life science industry at large.
Dow is a leading science and technology company that provides innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $30 billion, Dow serves customers in more than 170 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress, including food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its approximately 50,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. For more information visit Dow's Website: www.dow.com
Diversa Corporation is a global leader in developing and applying proprietary technologies to discover and evolve novel genes and gene pathways from diverse sources. Diversa is utilizing its fully integrated approach to develop novel enzymes and other biologically active compounds, such as orally active drugs, produced by these genes and gene pathways. Diversa's proprietary evolution technologies facilitate the optimization of genes to enable product solutions for the pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical processing, and industrial markets. Within these broad markets, Diversa is targeting key multi-billion dollar market segments where it believes its technologies and products will create high value and competitive advantages for strategic partners and customers. Diversa's strategic partners are market leaders and include Aventis Animal Nutrition S.A., Celera Genomics, The Dow Chemical Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Invitrogen Corporation, and Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. Diversa has also formed joint ventures with The Dow Chemical Company (named Innovase LLC) and with Syngenta Seeds AG (named Zymetrics, Inc.). Additional information is available at Diversa's Website: www.diversa.com . |
