Symyx, Lonza Sign Catalyst Discovery Agreement

Symyx Technologies Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) and Lonza Group (Basel, Switzerland) have inked a discovery and licensing agreement under which Symyx will develop novel catalysts for pharmaceutical and chemical intermediates.

Symyx hopes fruits of this collaboration will be commercialized within 12–18 months of discovery. Lonza will fund a portion of the research, make a milestone payment upon success, and have exclusive rights to use discovered catalysts in their manufacturing processes. Symyx will receive royalties from the sale of chemical intermediates manufactured using its catalysts.

Symyx uses a combination of parallel reactors, high-throughput screening, and discovery software to synthesize and test hundreds to thousands of catalysts at a time under varying reaction conditions. Symyx has also devised catalyst discovery platforms for chiral, hydrogenation, aromatic cross-coupling, Friedel Crafts, and selective oxidations.

For more information: Symyx Technologies Inc., 3100 Central Expwy., Santa Clara, CA 95051. Tel: 408-764-2000. Fax: 408-748-0175.

Edited by Angelo DePalma