 Anders Qvarnström, VP Marketing & Business Development, takes the opportunity to show SmithSynthesizer™. Developing a new medicine is a long and arduous process. Despite major scientific advances, the development of medicines is still the most complicated development process in the industrial world. Development costs an average of USD 700 million and can take anything between 10 to 15 years. Even when drugs finally reach the testing stage, 80% fail forcing companies to re-start the entire process. |
 Personal Chemistry Founded: 1998 Publicly listed: No Number of employees: 90 Key business area(s): Faster chemistry development Telephone: +46 18 489 90 00 Website Contact |
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quicker to a demanding World That is why a company in Sweden have invented an ingenious new way of medicinal development. Personal Chemistry AB have developed an entirely new technology - Coherent Synthesis™ - which accelerates chemical development using microwave technology. What’s more, the Coherent Synthesis process not only reduces development time, it also enables chemists to perform reactions otherwise practically impossible to run. CEO, Hans Johansson explains: “Chemists appreciate the freedom to explore our Coherent Synthesis gives them because complicated chemistry can be performed faster and with better results than ever before.” A young company Personal Chemistry are based in the Stockholm-Uppsala region of Sweden - a renowned hot-bed of scientific development encompassing The Karolinska Institutet, The Royal Institute of Technology and the major Universities of Stockholm and Uppsala. A young company that was only established in August 1998, it now enjoys an annual turnover of SEK 14 million in 2000 (USD 1.4 million) and is already aiming to list on the OM Stockholm Exchange within the next year. A rapidly expanding company, it increased its workforce from 24 to 63 in 2000, establishing sales teams in Great Britain, Germany, USA and the Nordic region. A unique combination The company is the result of a unique combination of employee expertise ranging from precision microwave engineering working for Ericsson to drug development in Pharmacia and instrument development at AmershamPharmacia Biotech. Coherent Synthesis is the brainchild of these minds. Essentially, it is a computerised system for organic synthesis and consists of a workstation (SmithSynthesizer™), software (SmithWorkflowManager™), SmithReactionKit™ and other accessories. The system can be programmed to conduct up to 120 reactions at one time with around 12-15 reactions per hour. Its ability to accelerate chemical reactions is a major technological breakthrough for the medical industry. “Our technology enables reactions to take place tens to thousands of times faster than through conventional methods. Individual reactions can therefore be completed within minutes, not hours,” explains Johansson. This not only offers the direct benefit of time savings but also many other indirect benefits. For example, it not only expands the range of chemical transformations possible but provides a more simplified way of working, higher levels of productivity and safety, as well as in some cases a more environmentally friendly method of chemistry. Johansson adds, “Our technology also ensures reproducible reaction conditions with higher yields thus allowing the chemist the freedom to explore specific ideas. This also has the benefit of reducing the risk of experimental error.” Incredibly effective Coherent Synthesis has already proved incredibly effective in the world of pharmaceuticals. “In 2000, 20 pharmaceutical companies were invited to evaluate Coherent Synthesis. 10 of the companies challenged our technology with some very complex chemical problems and all achieved results they never even came close to in the past,” says Johansson. These impressive results have not surprisingly attracted an enthusiastic following. The technology has grabbed the attention of some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry and the client range is growing. “We have around a dozen large pharmaceutical companies as committed customers but we are also gathering an increasing following in other chemistry-related industries where organic synthesis is important,” adds Johansson. As medical research advances at an increasingly rapid rate, Personal Chemistry seem perfectly placed to ride the crest of the biotechnology revolution. Nicholas Mead |
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