Dortmund, Germany and Milan, Italy, March 6th, 2009 – InterMed Discovery (IMD), an emerging world class natural product lead-discovery company, and Axxam SpA, a gene-to-lead biotechnology company, are pleased to announce that their joint research efforts have proved to be successful in providing a technology platform that offers, in addition to screening solutions, the discovery of natural bioactive compounds. These bioactive compounds are particularly valuable to companies in the food, beverages, flavour and fragrance industries.
Based on these results, both companies have therefore signed a second partnership agreement to further combine the expert platforms of IMD and Axxam. The combined technology platform offers an integrated approach to the screening, discovery and profiling of innovative natural sources-derived functional ingredients for various life science applications.
The joint research will focus on the mutual discovery and validation of Flavour/Fragrance functional ingredients, which will then be offered to food, beverages, flavour and fragrance companies. The proprietary compounds that are discovered will have clearly defined activity profiles and naturally-derived chemical properties, making them much more valuable to the customers wishing to utilize them.
“This cooperation is a direct response to what we see as growing market needs,” said Dr. Thomas Henkel, Managing Director of InterMed Discovery. “Our innovative approach to developing natural functional ingredients together with Axxam caters perfectly to the increasing market demand for turn key solutions.”
“We believe that our unique cooperation and the complementary skill sets of both companies will offer a valuable alternative for innovation in this demanding field and will industrialize the process for the generation of novel functional ingredients”, added Stefan Lohmer, Chairman and CEO of Axxam.
This joint research initiative between IMD and Axxam deepens an already existing strategic alliance, which was established in 2007 to provide complete service solutions for the identification of bioactive compounds from natural sources to the flavor and fragrance industries.
About InterMed Discovery
InterMed Discovery is an emerging world class natural product lead-discovery company, driving innovation through the generation of novel product candidates for the life science, food and cosmetics industries. Using one of the most powerful validated natural product discovery engines, InterMed Discovery generates proprietary product pipelines of early stage pharmaceuticals and functional ingredients and also supports partners in research and lead generation. Biologically characterised product leads are identified using IMD BIOPROFILING™ and NPSilico™, which together comprise a proprietary bioinformatics platform drawing on screening results compiled over many years, complemented by primary biological and chemical research on natural products. InterMed Discovery adds to this the industry’s largest collections of pure compounds, sample fractions and mixtures as its source for potential natural product leads. The Company is located in Dortmund, Germany and was founded in 2006 as a management buyout of the Natural Products Research Unit of Bayer Healthcare. IMD entered into strategic cooperations with companies such as Cognis GmbH and Biotropics Malaysia Berhad. Further information on InterMed Discovery can be found at www.intermed-discovery.com.
About Axxam
Axxam is a leading discovery company that offers early-stage discovery services, technologies and lead discovery programs for application in the life science industry. Our tools, core technologies and activities include a wide range of screening assays, specific assay development, high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns, compound profiling and hit-to-lead activities. Axxam also provides access to several compound collections and conducts internal discovery programs for selected targets which are also carried out in partnership with life science companies.
A team of almost 70 qualified personnel is committed to advance the discovery projects of our partners. The scientific know-how of our team is built upon years of experience as part of the Bayer HealthCare, Research and Development organization prior to the late 2001 inauguration of Axxam as an independent private company. The growing list of our collaborations in the life science industry is recognition of our success in areas such as the pharmaceutical, agrichemical, fragrance, cosmetic, flavour, food and beverage branches. Axxam is a privately-owned company with offices and state-of-the-art laboratories located in the San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park, Milan. Further information on Axxam can be found at www.axxam.com
