Nickel EnCat catalysts trialled in bulk API production

Pharma catalyst company, Reaxa, says its Nickel EnCat is in trials at a major pharma company in preparation for bulk scale production of a high volume API.

The multi-use Nickel EnCat catalyst is said to deliver better API process yields, reduced contamination levels and greater cost effectiveness compared with standard Raney type nickel catalysts.

Most traditional nickel catalysts require complex, hazardous processes, are awkward to handle and limited to single use. In contrast, Reaxa's immobilised nickel catalyst in EnCat traps catalyst species in a porous polymer bead. This reduces losses of the nickel into the product being produced or into the waste stream. The fact that it is reusable helps to cut both costs and metal consumption.

European legislation requires new drug products to comply with a strict limit of metal catalyst residues. Where standard catalysts typically result in over 1,000 parts per million (ppm) of metal residues in the crude product, EnCat processes can often meet specification of less than 10ppm without further purification steps, says the company.

Nickel represents roughly 20% of the pharma hydrogenation catalyst market, and so far the alternative EnCat catalysts have shown excellent activity in hydrogenation of carbon-carbon double bonds, nitro groups to amines and nitrile groups to amines.

The UK-based company is also launching a subsidiary, Reaxa India, to manage supply chain and commercial scale production, development and marketing activities in India and for the wider Asian market.