Aldrich, Rhodia Chirex ink distribution pact for chirals

Key building blocks for pharmaceutical intermediates

Aldrich Chemical (Milwaukee, WI) and Rhodia Chirex Inc. will jointly distribute research and development quantities of chiral intermediates manufactured by Rhodia's patented hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR) technology, which was licensed from Harvard's Eric Jacobsen back when Chirex was an independent company.

The deal brings together Aldrich's manufacturing expertise and one of the more innovative techniques for resolving racemic mixtures. With access to Jacobsen's invention, Aldrich expands its capability for producing chiral building blocks so useful in modern pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. Drawing on its proprietary asymmetric technology portfolio, Aldrich already makes and sells 2,400-plus chiral intermediates, catalysts, and reagents for asymmetric synthesis. Jacobsen's technique lets Aldrich manufacture chiral molecules more efficiently, as well as providing access to intermediates that were previously too difficult or expensive to manufacture.

Sigma-Aldrich Corp., Aldrich's parent company, is arguably the single most important supplier of biochemicals, organic and inorganic chemicals, chromatography products, and diagnostic reagents available in the world. Rhodia ChiRex is an integrated pharmaceutical outsourcing company with plants in the United States, England, and Scotland. Over the past five years Chirex, the predecessor to Rhodia Chirex, acquired or licensed chiral production technologies from top academic labs worldwide, believing that such a strategy assured it a unique position among pharmaceutical contractors.

For more information: Aldrich Chemical Co. Inc., 1001 W. St Paul Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53233. Tel: 414-273-3850.

By Angelo DePalma
Managing Editor, Pharmaceutical Online and Drug Discovery Online
adepalma@vertical.net