Dowpharma Relaunches Web Site, Will Make Donation to UNICEF

MIDLAND, MI-(April 12, 2005)- Dowpharma^SM contract manufacturing services, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, has unveiled its newly designed Web site, www.dowpharma.com <http://www.dowpharma.com/>. Beginning April 12, 2005, the company will donate $1 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, up to $5,000 or thirty days, for every user that visits the www.dowpharma.com <http://www.dowpharma.com> site.

Dowpharma is committed to bringing its clients’ products to market faster to serve those in need. Nick Hyde, business director, Dowpharma, said, “We offer pharmaceutical companies innovative services and technologies that solve their challenges, enabling them to introduce new drugs that enhance and even save lives. Through our new Web site launch, we are proud to support UNICEF in enhancing the standard of living for the world’s children.”

 
Dowpharma’s new Web site highlights its technology platforms such as BioAqueous^SM solubilization services; biopharmaceuticals and peptides, including Pfēnex Expression Technology^TM; PEGylation; ChelaMed^SM radiopharmaceutical services; Dow plant biopharmaceuticals, nucleic acid medicines, and capabilities in small molecules.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides lifesaving medicines, vaccines, nutritious foods, primary education, clean water and sanitation and emergency relief for millions of children and women in 158 countries and territories.

BioAqueous^SM solubilization services

BioAqueousSM solubilization services <http://dow.com/pharma/bioaqua/index.htm> from Dowpharma delivers customized solutions for the number one need in small molecule drug delivery - improving the bioavailability of poorly soluble drug compounds. Customers have multiple options, based on the engineering of nanostructured particles, and access to an unmatched level of support, from feasibility study to commercialization. Dowpharma’s technologies for better solubilization can remove barriers to commercialization for drug compounds under development and extend the life cycle of commercialized therapeutics.

Biopharmaceuticals and peptides

Dowpharma works with clients in the development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and peptides <http://dow.com/pharma/biopharma/index.htm>. Dowpharma’s capabilities and services, combined with a disciplined and integrated approach to process development - from fermentation to purification to analytical development - advance customers’ drug programs faster. Using Dowpharma’s cutting-edge bioinformatics and functional genomics capabilities, Dowpharma scientists can diagnose problems with the expression of target proteins or peptides, and design a robust solution using expression technologies such as Pfēnex Expression Technology™ <http://dow.com/pharma/biopharma/capabilities/pf_nex.htm>, a Pseudomonas-based system that increases the cellular expression of recombinant proteins and peptides while maintaining critical solubility characteristics.

PEGylation

Dowpharma offers a broad range of PEGs at standard and custom weights to enhance the effectiveness of customers’ biomolecules. Dowpharma also custom-designs PEGs to meet customers’ specific needs. All activated PEGs, regardless of molecular weight, have narrow polydispersity and low levels of di-activated PEG. As part of its PEGylation <http://dow.com/pharma/biopharma/pegylation/index.htm> offering, Dowpharma also provides customers with advanced analytical capabilities that allow them to fully understand the PEGs they are using.

ChelaMed^SM radiopharmaceutical services

ChelaMedSM radiopharmaceutical services <http://dow.com/pharma/chelamed/index.htm> from Dowpharma helps customers transform their biotargeting molecule (mAbs, fragments, small proteins, oligonucleotides or peptides) into a highly effective, potent biotargeted radiopharmaceutical therapeutic agent. Dowpharma also can work with customers to develop a biotargeted radiopharmaceutical for use as a diagnostic and imaging agent. Dowpharma can support customers through the entire radiopharmaceutical development process - from feasibility studies to preclinical development to cGMP manufacturing.

Dow plant biopharmaceuticals

Plant-based expression technologies <http://dow.com/pharma/plantbio/index.htm> from Dowpharma offer different options for expressing proteins to produce an affordable, effective pharmaceutical. In many cases, plant-based systems provide the only option for the expression of complex proteins. In other cases, they offer advantages such as reduced production costs, increased scalability, and enhanced efficacy and product safety. To ensure that public safety is not compromised with this emerging science, Dowpharma supports strong regulatory oversight of all plant-based production systems.

Nucleic acid medicines

Dowpharma’s industry-leading analytical and process development capabilities, expertise in regulatory compliance, and lab-to-cGMP commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities can help customers turn DNA or RNAi into a high-performing affordable nucleic acid medicine <http://dow.com/pharma/nucleic/index.htm>. The Dowpharma team brings speed, accuracy and broad technical expertise to analytical problem solving and supports customers’ manufacturing needs through a comprehensive array of analytical sciences capabilities and services. Dowpharma’s state-of-the-art commercial-scale cGMP facility in Midland, Mich., is one of few such facilities in the world.

Small molecules

In small molecules <http://dow.com/pharma/sm_molecules/index.htm>, Dowpharma works closely with customers to develop the simplest, most cost-effective route for manufacture of their target material, utilizing Dowpharma’s unparalleled technology toolbox <http://dow.com/pharma/sm_molecules/capabilities/index.htm>, highly knowledgeable and experienced staff, FDA-inspected facilities, strong logistical support, leading continuous improvement methodology and low cost assets. Dowpharma offers customers a flexible approach for access to this technology through collaborative research and development programs and commercial-scale supply of enabling catalysts, as well as by providing structurally complex products at the scale they require.

About Dowpharma
Dowpharma^SM serves the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries with innovative technologies, products, and services in drug discovery, development, delivery and manufacturing. Dowpharma has one of the broadest and deepest capabilities in the global outsourcing industry with services that 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 manufactures small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and intermediates, nucleic acid medicines, 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 <http://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 $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: 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 43,000 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.

^SMService Mark of The Dow Chemical Company
^TMTrademark of The Dow Chemical Company

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For editorial information:                             
Kathleen Davis
The Dow Chemical Company
(989) 636-2760
kadavis@dow.com

For more editorial information:
Josiah McClellan
Gibbs & Soell
(212) 697-2600
jmcclellan@gibbs-soell.com