Pharmaceuticals

As one of the body’s natural lubricants, hyaluronic acid is currently being investigated in many pharmaceutical applications . Most noteworthy is the use of intra-articular hyaluronic acid for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. Both injectable and oral preparations have been examined.

There is also evidence that hyaluronic acid can be used in the treatment of plaque-induced gingivitis, thanks to its well documented anti-inflammatory properties.

In short, there appear to be numerous potential applications. However, pharmaceutical-grade products have been extremely expensive. Moreover, as these have been based on material harvested from rooster combs, there have been questions as to the safety of these ingredients.

HyaCare® has no residual endotoxins from its host strain
Novozymes Biopolymer has created a new, purer form of HA based on Bacillus subtilis, one of the best characterized, gram-positive micro-organisms. As a result, HyaCare is the only sodium hyaluronate in the world that features such low protein levels and no endotoxins from the host strain.

HyaCare boasts the same efficacy as traditional sodium hyaluronate yet with vastly improved safety, including significantly reduced risk of transmittance of animal spongiform encephalopathy.

World’s first dedicated cGMP HA facility
Drawing on our patented technology, we have designed a dedicated large-scale cGMP production facility, scheduled to start production of pharmaceutical-grade HA ingredients in 2011. Pilot process samples will be available already by early 2009.

To plan for capacity and to ensure efficient market entry, Novozymes Biopolymer is currently entering into strategic supply agreements with selected pharmaceutical manufacturers. This allows our partners to become “first movers” in the use of HyaCare.

Read more about partnering opportunities with Novozymes Biopolymer

Downloads
“Visco-elastic properties of a new Bacillus-derived cross-linked hyaluronic acid towards osteoarthritis treatment"
Abstract (PDF 30 kb)