Novazyme Pharmaceuticals opens biologics manufacturing facility

Producing biopharmaceuticals for the company's lead proprietary enzyme replacement therapies for the treatment of lysosomal storage disorders

BW HealthWire — Novazyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Oklahoma City, OK) recently announced the opening of its Biologics Manufacturing Facility, a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art complex to be used for the production of biopharmaceuticals for the company's lead proprietary enzyme replacement therapies for the treatment of lysosomal storage disorders.

At a ceremony officially opening the new facility, Novazyme chairman and chief scientific officer William M. Canfield stated: "This facility, which was designed and built in less than eight months, is a great testament to the tireless dedication of all of our employees at Novazyme and yet another example of our ability to set in place the infrastructure necessary to move our drugs rapidly into the human clinic."

The Biologics Manufacturing Facility was dedicated and named the Lindsey Paige Easton Biologics Manufacturing Facility in honor of a teenager who struggles with one of the most devastating of these lysosomal storage disorders&151;Pompe disease. Lindsey is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was on hand with her family to officially open the new facility.

The 3,000-square-foot, GMP Biologics Manufacturing Facility is located adjacent to Novazyme's research and development operations in Oklahoma City. The facility is designed to manufacture in parallel several different drugs for the treatment of various lysosomal storage disorders. The Company has previously announced plans to begin separate human clinical trials for both Pompe disease and MPS I (Hurler and Hurler/Schie Syndrome) during 2001.

"We at Novazyme are passionately driven by our mission to discover and develop drugs that will profoundly enhance the lives of patients with lysosomal storage diseases," commented Novazyme president and CEO John F. Crowley. "May this plant, dedicated in honor of a brave young lady, be an ever present reminder to us of the importance of that mission and of the patients we serve."

Novazyme is a pharmaceutical company developing biotherapies for the treatment of lysosomal storage disorders. These biotherapies are based on Novazyme's proprietary technologies for the targeted delivery of the missing enzymes critical for the treatment of these diseases. The technologies were developed by William M. Canfield in his laboratories at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Canfield founded Novazyme in 1999 and currently serves as the company's chairman and chief scientific officer. The company's principal investors include: Catalyst Health & Technology Partners (Boston); HealthCare Ventures (Princeton); the Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund (New York); and Neose Technologies (Horsham, PA).

For more information, contact John F. Crowley of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. at 609-844-7570 or 405-271-8144, or jcrowley@novazyme.com.

Source: Novazyme Pharmaceuticals Inc.