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Impact: EaStCHEM spin out Albachem (1994), subsequently incorporated into the Almac group, enabling the latter company to become a world leader in the provision of chemically synthesised proteins.
Significance: Chemical synthesis is competitive with recombinant methods for commercial production of the therapeutic polypeptides that represent ~50% of drugs in big pharma pipelines and have a market value in 2008 of over $13B. The value attributable to Ramage's methods for polypeptide syntheses over the REF period is estimated at approximately £6M.
Beneficiaries: Drug manufacturers, contract research organisations, patients, clinicians.
Research: Studies (1993-6) led by Ramage (at the University of Edinburgh) on new methods for high-yield total syntheses and purification of long polypeptides.
Reach: Almac's protein-manufacturing team remains in the UK with 24 staff members. The Almac Group, headquartered in N. Ireland, has 3300 employees globally (1300 outside UK) and sells to 600 companies worldwide.
UCL research has been instrumental in creating critically needed new biocatalysts and bioprocess technologies for industrial biocatalytic process development. These have impact across the UK chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. BiCE enzyme technologies have been exploited through the formation of a spin-out company, Synthace, generating investment of £1.8m and creation of 7 new jobs. Commercial utilisation of BiCE enzymes by company partners has led to environmental benefits through sustainable syntheses and reduced waste generation. BiCE high-throughput bioprocess technologies have also been adopted to speed biocatalytic process development. UCL established a parallel miniature stirred bioreactor system as a new product line for HEL Ltd. [text removed for publication]. Related knowledge transfer activities have also benefited some 157 industrial employees from over 50 companies since 2008.
Catalysis is a major UK industry strength and wealth generator for the UK economy. Research carried out in the group of Professor Matthew Davidson in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath resulted in the development of titanium and zirconium alkoxide catalysts for use in three industrial polymerisation processes and patented by the UK companies ICI Synetix and Johnson Matthey. Patents have recently also been acquired by the Indian multinational Dorf Ketal and filed by the Dutch multinational Corbion Purac. The research has resulted in the adoption of new catalysts in industry leading to increased turnover, onward dissemination and implementation of the Bath intellectual property. It has also generated £4.6M from sale of intellectual property and an increase in generated sales of new, sustainable titanium catalysts that replace heavy metals such as tin, antimony and mercury in major industrial processes. The intellectual property and process developments have been implemented globally in the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(urethane) (PU) plastics markets, worth $23B and $33B, respectively, in 2010.
Studies into the deactivation and regeneration of heteropoly acid catalysts, which took place in the group of Professor Ivan Kozhevnikov at Liverpool University since 1996, resulted in the large-scale industrial application of these catalysts in BP's process for the synthesis of the widely used solvent ethyl acetate, thus making significant economic and environmental impact. This process, trademarked AVADA (for AdVanced Acetates by Direct Addition of acetic acid to ethylene), was launched in 2001 at Hull, UK, on a scale of 220,000 tonnes p.a., then the world's largest ethyl acetate production plant. The impact continued through the REF period from 2008 to 2013. In October 2011, the AVADA process produced 56% of the ethyl acetate in Europe (245,000 tonnes p.a. production capacity and $340m p.a. factory gate value), being the second largest in the world after the Zhenjiang 270,000 tonnes p.a. ethyl acetate plant in China. Over the REF period, the AVADA process produced 1.2 million tonnes of ethyl acetate worth $1.7 billion. The AVADA process makes ethyl acetate with 100% atom efficiency, avoiding the use of ethanol as an intermediate. It beats conventional processes in environmental friendliness by reducing energy consumption by 20% and feedstock losses by 35%, thus removing more than 100,000 tonnes p.a. of wastewater stream. At the heart of the AVADA process is a highly efficient heteropoly acid catalyst that is responsible for its superior performance. Implementation of measures improving catalyst stability and resistance to coking, which originated from collaboration between the Kozhevnikov group and BP Chemicals, prevented otherwise fast catalyst deactivation to create an economically viable process.
A process for the commercial production of a family of Warwick-invented organometallic catalysts has been developed and patented by Johnson Matthey (JM). The catalysts — which have been sold internationally to several fine chemical and pharmaceutical companies in kilogram quantities, capable of producing tonnes of product — are in widespread industrial use for synthesis and scale-up. Other companies have protected, and are marketing, similar `copycat' catalysts. JM continues to work in collaboration with Warwick Chemistry on the next generation of catalysts.
University of Huddersfield research in physical organic chemistry has delivered economic, industrial and societal benefits. It has led to process improvements in chemical manufacturing, most notably in the optimisation of the synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides and in the use of liquid ammonia as a solvent. It has also led to the development of new inhibitors of bacterial β-lactamases for use as antibacterials. The research team's expertise has been reflected in the success of IPOS (Innovative Physical Organic Solutions), a unit established in 2006 to carry out research in process and other areas of chemistry for the chemical industry. IPOS expanded significantly from 2009 to 2013 and has now collaborated with more than 150 companies, many of them based in Yorkshire/Humberside where regeneration is critically dependent on the success of new, non-traditional, high-technology firms and industries. Through these collaborative projects, IPOS has contributed to the growth and prosperity of both regional and national industry.
Research by Professor Jones, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, resulted in the development of a new method for preparing composite solids, involving the grinding of two or more crystalline solids in the presence of small volumes of liquid. This so called "liquid assisted grinding" (LAG) which produces novel solids with bespoke physical and chemical properties, is now routinely used by the major pharmaceutical companies to screen for new drug forms as part of their drug product development process.
The growth and performance of Biofocus Galapagos Argenta (BGA) and Pulmagen Therapeutics (PT) are underpinned by research from the Imperial-based TeknoMed project that started in 1997. BGA was formed in 2010 through the acquisition of Argenta Discovery (AD) by Biofocus Galapagos for €16.5 million and is one of the world's largest drug discovery service organisations with 390 plus employees and turnover of €135 million [section 5, A]. PT was formed as a separate company to own the complete AD drug pipeline. It develops new medicines to treat asthma, cystic fibrosis and allergic diseases. In 2011 BGA signed agreements with PT for an initial £6million fee and with Genentech for £21.5million.
The development of the chemistry of Selectfluor® (F-TEDA-BF4) has resulted in this Manchester-discovered reagent becoming the world's most widely used commercial electrophilic fluorinating agent to introduce fluorine into a range of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Annual worldwide production is ca. 25 tonnes and sales estimated to be US$7.5m. Selectfluor is used in the synthesis of fluticasone, a fluorinated corticosteroid which is the active ingredient in GSK's Advair ($3.6bn sales in 2010) used in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease symptoms; top 25 selling drugs Flixonase, Flixotide, Flonase, Flovent HFA and Advair Diskus which had total sales of over $17bn between 2009-2012.
The activities of the Organic Materials Innovation Centre (OMIC) at the University of Manchester generate impact from its research activities through knowledge transfer to industry. This is exemplified by:
Provision of research-based training in the field of printed electronics and sensors to over 250 people from 2008 onwards.