Chemical Engineering January 2015 - 22

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the Nevada biofuels facility would
use 7,000 tons of agricultural waste,
and reduce net greenhouse gas
emissions by 100%.
Not only green considerations,
but better economics are driving
demand for enzymes in detergents,
says Novozymes' Birch Mathisen.
" By substituting enzymes for petrochemicals
with volatile pricing, we
get enhanced performance that was
impossible just 10-15 years ago, " he
adds. " In addition, enzymes allow
for more diverse performance profiles,
and a secure price point. "
Reducing pharma's E-factor
Pharmaceutical applications, which
are notorious for their high Efactors,
or impact on the environment,
are another area of focus for
industrial enzymes today. For Novozymes,
today's biopharma focus is
on biocatalysis, half-life extension,
allowing for less frequent dosing,
and hyaluronic acid, which is currently
derived from roosters' combs
in a rather hard-to-control process,
according to Novozymes' Licht.
Drug companies are looking at
ways to cut production costs, reduce
chemicals and improve sustainability,
says Licht, and biocatalysis
and enzymes allow them to
do this. Merck & Co., Inc. (Rahway,
N.J.; www.merck.com), for instance,
has a partnership with the enzyme
specialist, Codexis, Inc. (Redwood
City, Calif.; www.codexis.com), that
helped it develop an enzymatic
route to its blockbuster diabetes
drug, Januvia, which had previously
required rhodium, a rare
metal catalyst.
The drug company GlaxoSmithKline
(Bentford, England; www.
gsk.com) has rolled out a formal
plan to shift from synthetic chemistry
to enzymatic reactions, a move
that CEO Andrew Witty expects to
reduce carbon footprint and manufacturing
costs by 50%, according to
a February 2013 Webcast.
As part of this program, GSK
said it is using Novozymes' Veltis,
an albumin designed to extend the
half life of some drugs so that patients
only need to take the drug
once a month, once a week, or
once every two weeks, instead of
daily. Veltis is tunable, Licht says,
so drug companies can adjust the
enzyme in the formulation to provide
exactly the half-life required.
Veltis is being used in GSK's new
diabetes drug, Tanzeum/Eperzan,
while other companies including
CSL and Epivax are evaluating the
technology, Licht says.
Currently, experts say that industrial
enzyme suppliers and the CPI
have just scratched the surface of
potential applications. As new enzymes
and applications continue
to develop, the push to use them to
reduce environmental impact and
product cost promises to continue. ■
Agnes Shanley
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Chemical Engineering January 2015

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