Dowpharma Announces Biologics Peptide Manufacture
Diverse Technology Suite Provides Customers with Lower Cost of Goods
Midland, MI - April 26, 2004. Dowpharma, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, announces new, cost effective manufacturing solutions for peptides using Dowpharma's suite of leading biologics technologies.

"With many options at our fingertips, we can rapidly assess a client's peptide candidate and then, based on their specific needs, develop an efficient expression and purification strategy to produce a high quality product that addresses their cost of goods concerns," says Nick Hyde, business director, Dowpharma.
"These additional tailored solutions are made possible through the recently expanded Dowpharma portfolio," adds Hyde. "Our technology suite includes Pseudomonas fluorescens, a new microbial platform, as well as plant-based expression systems - both whole plant and plant cell culture. We can work with clients to design the optimal peptide construct for cost-effective manufacturing using Dowpharma's world-class genomics and molecular biology capabilities."

Dowpharma's technology suite is particularly well-suited for the manufacture of medium- to long-chain peptides (>20 AA residues). Dowpharma has a number of ongoing client projects that use recombinant technology for the production of peptides. Most recently, The Dow Chemical Company and NOBEX Corporation, announced a collaboration on the plant-based production of a proprietary peptide currently in preclinical development by NOBEX as a potential appetite suppressant to treat obesity.
For further information about peptide manufacture at Dowpharma, please contact Kendall Justiniano, Business Development Leader, Dowpharma at kjustiniano@dow.com. 

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 entities 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 and associated analytical services as well as manufacturing and scale-up from the bench, through clinical trials, to commercial launch. Dowpharma currently manufactures small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and intermediates, oligonucleotides, cGMP polymers, and proteins from microbial fermentation and plant systems.

Dowpharma has an excellent 30-plus year history of cGMP regulatory compliance in the organic synthesis of APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates with the ability to provide client support in filing and validation strategies. The business also manufactures a long list of scaffolds and fine chemicals of interest to the drug development community. Dowpharma operates research, process development and manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe.

Dow also supplies products for use in pharmaceutical formulations, including amino acids, glycerine, organosoluble polymers, water soluble polymers and a wide portfolio of solvents from alcohols, acetates, ketones, ester, chlorinated organics and glycol ethers."

For more information on Dowpharma: www dowpharma.com; for more information on Dow products offered to the pharmaceutical industry.

About The Dow Chemical Company
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
212-697-2600