ST. LOUIS, Missouri, October 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAFC, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group announced today that its SAFC Pharma business segment has been appointed by BTG PLC, the medical innovations company, to provide chemical development services relating to BGC20-1259, a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
BGC20-1259, currently in Phase I clinical studies, is a unique, multi-functional compound being developed to target the cognitive impairment and behavioral aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as provide neuroprotection against the disease.
SAFC Pharma chemists at the Manchester UK facility will conduct process research and development studies on the synthesis of BGC20-1259 to determine a suitable process for the manufacture of sufficient quantities of material to be included in clinical trials. Following process development, cGMP manufacturing of the compound is anticipated by SAFC.
“The SAFC Pharma team impressed us with their abilities and experience in small molecule chemical development and cGMP manufacturing. We are very pleased that they will be assisting BTG with this section of the BGC20-1259 program,” said Carol Routledge, Head of Clinical Development at BTG.
“We are delighted that BTG has selected SAFC as its chemical development partner for BGC20-1259,” said Frank Wicks, SAFC President. “Our pre-clinical chemical support expertise and extensive knowledge in this area has resulted in a positive response from the pharmaceutical industry, demonstrated by our continued growth in the chemistry services and custom manufacturing business. BTG’s appointment underlines our proven ability to meet the chemistry support needs of emerging pharma companies.”
About SAFC: SAFC is the custom manufacturing group within Sigma-Aldrich that focuses on both biochemical production and the manufacturing of complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and key intermediates. SAFC has manufacturing facilities around the world dedicated to providing manufacturing services for companies requiring a reliable partner to produce their custom manufactured materials. SAFC has four operating segments - SAFC Pharma, SAFC Supply Solutions, SAFC Biosciences, and SAFC Hitech - and had annual sales of $437million in 2005. SAFC is one of the world’s 10 largest fine chemical businesses.
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 35 countries and has 7,200 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web site at http://sigma-aldrich.com.
About BTG: BTG in-licenses, develops and commercializes pharmaceuticals and other medical technologies. With a substantial and growing revenue stream of royalties and milestone payments from out-licensed products, BTG continues to strengthen its pipeline of preclinical and clinical development programs. Active in oncology, diseases of ageing, neuroscience, drug repositioning and medical devices, BTG works from its offices in London, Philadelphia and Osaka with a global partner network of healthcare companies and research organizations. For more information, visit: www.btgplc.com.
Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, goals, strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Companies’ expectations, goals, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Companies’ operations and conditions in the markets the Companies serve. The Companies do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
SAFC
CONTACT: For questions, contact: Dr. Frank Wicks, President, SAFC,+1-314-286-8008, Media Inquiries: Mr. Richard Kerns, Northern Exposure,+44-161-728-5880
