HydRegen successfully completes tech transfer to Almac Sciences as part of the joint development project of its proprietary enzyme platform
HydRegen, the revolutionary bioscience company, completes first scale up demonstration of the joint HydRegen-Almac Sciences bio-manufacturing route to a critical commodity chemical, achieving >99.9% conversion in industrially relevant timeframes in a kilo-lab hydrogenation facility. The demonstration implements HydRegen’s proprietary enzyme platform, H2BioCat, combined with a ‘lead’ Almac Sciences Carbonyl Reductase (CRED) enzyme, for clean and efficient carbonyl-to-alcohol conversion. This demonstration takes the HydRegen platform for enabling biocatalytic hydrogenation closer to large-scale manufacturing and showcases its capabilities for supporting a more energy, cost and resource efficient chemicals sector.
Sarah Cleary, HydRegen CSO
“We are hugely excited to have achieved such fantastic results as part of the first-time pilot scale-up in this important project that will allow HydRegen to take its enzyme platform to the next stage. “
The project, funded by UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and Innovate UK (IUK) alongside private investors, was launched 18 months ago to develop and scale up the HydRegen technology for more sustainable commodity chemical manufacturing and subsequent implementation into new chemical processes. Alongside the major UK-based pharmaceutical and chemical company Almac Sciences (part of the Almac Group), HydRegen has been evaluating the joint technology development project which uses a multi-enzyme system, with enzyme technologies from both companies, to produce a cost effective manufacturing process and green alternatives to commodities. The development of a greener and low-cost manufacturing process is at the forefront for many pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies who are under increasing regulatory, policy and financial pressures to improve their sustainability and lower the cost of goods.
This latest milestone in the project signals a positive response when scaling up the selected commodity chemical product from bench top to kilo lab scale. This product, which has various uses including an application as an adhesive and resin precursor, was achieved in a batch hydrogenation vessel under mild pressure and temperature. Building on this initial success, HydRegen will complete R&D toward further increasing productivity and translation of this process into continuous flow.
Using their proprietary enzyme-based platform, HydRegen is enabling sustainable chemical manufacturing by switching the power source for biocatalysis from glucose to hydrogen gas and reducing its environmental impact, this includes active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing. With a vision to replace finite resources, like metals, with environmentally and economically sustainable alternatives, HydRegen is addressing unmet needs in the chemical sector, most specifically around the challenges associated with redox reactions, their waste generation and use of toxic metals. By lowering the barrier to entry for evaluation and scale up of redox bioprocesses they can encourage energy intensive businesses to reduce their carbon footprint with the introduction and implementation of radical new innovations.
Dr Sarah Cleary, CSO at HydRegen said: “We are hugely excited to have achieved such fantastic results as part of the first-time pilot scale-up in this important project that will allow HydRegen to take its enzyme platform to the next stage. This joint development work moves us closer to commercialising our technology and could help HydRegen to become part of the ‘advanced manufacturing toolbox’ in applications that will help the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry meet their Net Zero goals.
Jack Allman, Product Development Specialist at HydRegen adds: “Working in collaboration with Almac provides an important opportunity for HydRegen to demonstrate the proficiency of its enzyme technology in a chemical industry environment and gain a real-world evaluation of its ability to produce positive results when scaled up to commercial manufacturing capacities. I was delighted to have the experience of working in Almac, and to bring back my learnings to the rest of the HydRegen R&D team.”
Prof. Tom Moody, VP Technology Development and Commercialisation at Almac comments: “I am very pleased to see the high conversion achieved by the team using the HydRegen technology coupled with the Almac CRED enzyme. I look forward to running this process under flow conditions and showcasing the benefits of running this bioreduction.”
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Rebecca Noonan, PR Consultant, BX Consulting Services
Email: rebecca@bx-consulting.co.uk
Susan Craig, SC CR Global Marketing Manager, Almac Sciences
Email: susan.craig@almacgroup.com
Notes to editors:
HydRegen Ltd
HydRegen Ltd is pioneering a novel biotechnology that enables more sustainable chemical manufacture. At HydRegen, we are passionate about reducing the environmental impact of chemical manufacturing and committed to enabling companies across the chemicals sector to improve their energy and resource efficiency whilst moving towards continuous manufacturing processes.
Almac Group
The Almac Group is an established contract development and manufacturing organisation providing an extensive range of integrated services across the drug development lifecycle to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally. Its innovative services range from R&D, biomarker discovery development and commercialisation, API manufacture, analytical services, formulation development, clinical trial supply, IRT (IVRS/IWRS) through to commercial-scale manufacture.
The international company is a privately owned organisation which has grown organically over the past five decades now employing over 6,000 highly skilled personnel across 19 facilities including Europe, the US and Asia.
To keep up to date with latest news, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn or visit almacgroup.com.