| Carbohydrates are constructed by linking sugar 'building blocks' together. However, there are numerous ways of linking sugar units together, which means a variety of different types of carbohydrates. Herein lies their synthetic complexity. The synthesis of carbohydrates has been, until now, highly labour intensive, requiring very specialised knowledge and a high degree of chemical skill. This has made the use of such compounds cost-prohibitive. Alchemia was founded to develop a novel technology for the cost-effective manufacture of carbohydrates, a process which employs a purely synthetic chemistry methodology. As a result, Alchemia's research and development activities have resulted in the production of a series of proprietary building blocks which enable the large-scale, economical synthesis of carbohydrates. The company’s unique carbohydrate chemistry expertise has led to significant developments in the areas of drug manufacturing and drug discovery of carbohydrate-based products. Alchemia is developing a generic version of an existing pharmaceutical, fondaparinux, known by the company as 'Synthetic Heparin.' Synthetic Heparin represents Alchemia’s first substantial commercial opportunity, and is the latest innovation in the Heparin family of drugs - a growing US$ 3.0 billion market. Alchemia’s carbohydrate chemistry expertise is also being applied to the development of products and treatments for areas of unmet medical need including oncology and antibiotics. Alchemia’s advances in carbohydrate synthesis have attracted substantial interest from the scientific community, as well as from leading global biotechnology and manufacturing companies seeking an edge for their drug discovery efforts. | |
