Dowpharma sharpens focus on new expression systems; closes site
SMITHFIELD, R.I.-(July 29, 2004) - Dowpharma, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, has announced plans to close its biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Dowpharma will continue to develop its biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing business by building on promising new developments in protein and peptide expression technologies that will contribute significantly to the pharmaceutical industry's drive for accessible, affordable medicines.

"Biotechnology is a dynamic industry and demands agility," said Nick Hyde, business director, Dowpharma. "The decision to close the Smithfield facility, formerly owned by Collaborative BioAlliance (CBA), is driven by changes in the biotech industry specifically around mammalian cell culture technology. One of the reasons for our decision to purchase CBA in 2000 was a forecast of additional mammalian cell culture capacity needed to supply the market. Market conditions for this technology have not evolved to the point the industry anticipated just a few years ago. We've recognized this and have decided to sharpen our focus on areas where we can deliver truly differentiated value to our customers. Our emphasis will be on enabling technologies for the rapid process development and scale-up of client production processes for therapeutic proteins and peptides."

To enable this, Dow previously announced the consolidation of its process development capability at Dow's biotechnology center in San Diego and recently launched its Pseudomonas fluorescens expression technology for the production of recombinant proteins. This novel technology can increase cellular expression while maintaining critical solubility and activity characteristics of recombinant proteins. Also this year, Dowpharma announced a new peptides offering, including expression and purification strategies for cost effective manufacturing.

Dowpharma will also focus on plant-based systems, having made several recent announcements about its expanded offerings to the industry in antibody expression and peptide expression. "These offerings allow both rapid scale up and higher productivity for complex proteins," Hyde added.

"Dowpharma is committed to offering tailored solutions to our clients through our expanding technical portfolio and key partnerships with other companies. We will continue to invest in opportunities to become a long-term leader in biopharmaceutical manufacturing by using our science base and operational expertise to help bring affordable medicines to market faster," stated Hyde. 

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 offerings 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, custom solubilization, including BioAqueous* solubilization services, chiral capabilities, and associated analytical services, biotargeted radiopharmaceuticals development through ChelaMed* radiopharmaceutical services, as well as manufacturing and scale-up from feasibility, through clinical trials, to commercial manufacturing. Dowpharma currently manufactures small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and intermediates, oligonucleotides, cGMP polymers, peptides and therapeutic proteins from microbial fermentation, including PROTEIN FACTORY*, a novel Pseudomonas fluorescens-based expression technology, 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 .

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 $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.

*BioAqueous, ChelaMed and PROTEIN FACTORY are service marks of The Dow Chemical Company.


For Editorial Information:
Kathleen Davis
The Dow Chemical Company 
989-636-2760