Dowpharma Consolidates Biopharmaceutical Process Development to San Diego

Midland, MI - May 24, 2004

Dowpharma, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, will consolidate its biopharmaceutical customer process development activities to Dow's Research & Development (R&D) biotechnology site located in San Diego, Calif.  Process development activities from Dowpharma's Stony Brook, N.Y. facility will now be integrated into the San Diego facility.

The San Diego site, located in a regional biotech hub, will focus on the rapid process development and scale-up of client production processes for therapeutic proteins and peptides expressed in various systems. "The cutting-edge work at San Diego is exemplified by the development and recent launch of a novel Pseudomonas fluorescens based expression technology from Dowpharma, for the production of therapeutic proteins and peptides," says Nick Hyde, business director, Dowpharma.   

"Integrating all of our biopharmaceutical customer process development activities will allow us to leverage the significant resources and expertise that exist within Dow's biotechnology R&D.   It will enable us to offer our customers state-of-the-art capabilities.  Dowpharma is committed to becoming a leader in biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing and will continue to invest in opportunities that will allow us to help make affordable medicines for our customers," states Hyde.

The Dow San Diego Complex
In addition to business operations, the four-building San Diego complex houses R&D laboratories, process development labs and a pilot plant focused on process development and scale-up of biopharmaceutical production processes.  Major capabilities at the site now include:

  • Molecular biology with state-of-the-art genomics and bioinformatics capability used to support optimization of expression strains
     
  • Process development with:
    • Twenty-six computer-controlled microbial fermenters up to 1,500 L scale
    • Primary recovery capabilities including disc stack centrifugation, continuous flow centrifugation and microfiltration
    • Purification process development with large-scale chromatography skids, ultrafiltration/diafiltration skids and expanded bed adsorption skids
       
  • Equipment for analytical method development and characterization of therapeutic proteins and peptides

The San Diego site was originally a Dow AgroSciences R&D site following Dow's acquisition of Mycogen in 1998.  The site also housed Dow's biotechnology R&D and industrial biotechnology business. With the relocation of Dow AgroSciences' research activities to Indianapolis in 2002, the site remained Dow's corporate biotechnology R&D center.

This integration is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

About Dowpharma
Dowpharma serves the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries with innovative technology, products, and services for clients in drug discovery, development, manufacturing, and delivery. Dowpharma combines the resources and capabilities of several offerings to create a single, market-focused organization with broad service and support capabilities for large and emerging pharmaceutical companies.

Dowpharma services include process development, route selection, methods development, custom solubilization, chiral capabilities, and associated analytical services, as well as manufacturing and scale-up from feasibility, through clinical trials, to commercial manufacturing. Dowpharma currently manufactures small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and intermediates, oligonucleotides, cGMP polymers, peptides and therapeutic proteins from microbial fermentation and plant-based systems.

Dowpharma draws upon over 30 years of excellent cGMP regulatory compliance in the organic synthesis of APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates with the ability to provide client support in filing and validation strategies. Dowpharma operates research, process development, and manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. More information is available at www.dowpharma.com

About Dow
Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $33 billion, Dow serves customers in more than 180 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 46,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. 


For Editorial Information:

Kathleen Davis
The Dow Chemical Company
989-636-2760

Josiah McClellan
Gibbs & Soell, Inc.
212-697-2600