Off-the-shelf biocatalysts for fine chemical and pharmaceutical synthesis (2018-2019)

Production of drugs and fine chemicals requires highly specific reactions, some very difficult using traditional synthetic methods. Enzymes catalyze very specific reactions, so there is great potential for using enzymes as biocatalysts in industry. However most enzymes in nature are unstable and not highly efficient under industrial conditions. Cytochrome P450 enzymes can make useful, highly specific modifications to complex chemicals, and have great potential for production of drugs, flavours, fragrances, agrochemicals, etc.. Prof. Elizabeth Gillam and her group have engineered highly thermostable forms of P450s that function over 100 times longer than the native enzymes under industrial conditions. They have also invented an accessory enzyme that further increases product yields. Oxford Biomedical Research (OBR) a mature, privately held biotechnology company, specializes in novel biocatalysts including P450s. Their novel, proprietary Express platform provides for low cost, large scale production of biocatalysts. OBR is already marketing P450 CypExpress¿ enzymes to major pharmaceutical companies and is well positioned to commercialize the technology developed by the Gillam group. We plan to provide customers with thermostable P450s expressed in bacteria for them to select enzyme(s) that make a desired product. Then the selected P450 can then be made in large scale using the Express platform. This project is focused on preparing and test marketing of initial prototypes.