Chromatide signs HPLC deal
The collaboration, financial terms of which are not being disclosed, will aim to produce a silica-based high performance liquid chromatography media specifically for the purification of chiral drug molecules.
The term chirality refers to two molecules, known as enantiomers, which are structural mirror images of each other. These differences can mean that such molecules can have vastly different impacts from one another when used as therapeutic agents.
The best known example of this is probably the morning sickness medication thalidomide that was administered as a mixture of enantiomer forms, one of which it later emerged caused catastrophic birth defects.
As a result, systems that improve the purification of chiral molecules have become vital to the production of all modern drugs, particularly in the ever expanding therapeutic protein and bio-molecule sectors.
In addition, technologies that boost manufacturing yield through the improved capture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are likely to be very attractive to a pharmaceutical industry that is doing all it can to minimize production costs in the face of increased generic competition.
Kromasil
Chromatide and SP’s research collaboration will combine the former's expertise in the synthesis of chromatography polymers with the latter’s track record in the development of industrial separation technologies.
The project will be based on SP’s Kromasil silica separation product that has, since its launch in 1988, become one of the most widely used chromatographic materials in the drug industry.
Kromasil combines high pore volume and surface area, together with very high mechanical stability. This allows drugmakers to inject more into each separation column during product runs, improving the cost efficiency of the purification process.
Commenting on the deal, Chromatide CSO Don Wellings, said that the firm is “delighted to be working alongside Akzo Nobel, a company with such a strong, global reputation in the specialty chemicals market. “
Dr Wellings added that Akzo’s existing marketing infrastructure would allow products developed under the partnership to be made available to clients in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in a fraction of the time taken to launch non-partnered products.