New company aims to exploit glycochemistry
A new company based in Chicago in the US is aiming to become the premier supplier of unique glycochemicals to a range of industries, in particular pharmaceutical intermediates. ZuChem plans to use an advanced technology package to produce chemical products that are either very difficult or expensive to make using current synthetic methods.
According to zuChem president Dr David C Demirjian, glycochemicals have enormous therapeutic potential in the pharmaceutical market, but until now their use has been limited.
Initially zuChem intends to focus on selling research-scale quantities of proprietary glycochemicals and combinatorial chemical libraries based on these molecules. It also aims to develop economically viable large-scale manufacturing processes based on a number of early stage proprietary technologies. Demirjian expects that its first product will be launched on the market within the next six to nine months.
The company has established links with Edinburgh University in the UK and is looking to set up a European subsidiary in the near future.