Expanding protein purification capacity

ST. LOUIS—Sigma-Aldrich Fine Chemicals' pharma business announced it will expand its cGMP protein purification capacity, adding completely separate plant and animal protein processing facilities to Sigma-Aldrich's 400,000 sq. ft. campus. The company is making the move in response to increasing market demands for therapeutic proteins, which is projected to reach $81 billion by 2010 according to recent research by Kalorama Information.

 

"SAFC is a recognized leader in cGMP purification of therapeutic proteins from natural-sourced material," says Frank Wicks, company president. "Recent successes in the transgenic plant market combined with advancements of several of our natural active pharmaceutical ingredients derived from plants have provided impetus to expand our capacity."

 

SAFC is working with numerous transgenic plant platform companies to develop commercial-scale processes for proteins previously available only from animal-sourced materials and for therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies. A January-2006 report by Kalorama Information suggests pharmaceutical use of transgenic plants and animals is seeing significant growth against more traditional bioreactor-based production.