zuChem Receives Two Polyol Patents

Chicago, IL (June 17, 2013) – zuChem Inc., a leading producer of unique carbohydrates for human health and nutrition, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark office has recently issued 2 patents – US 8,367,346 entitled “Methods for Production of Xylitol in Microorganisms”, and US 8,338,147 entitled “Process for producing D-Mannitol”. These two patents expand zuChem’s technology portfolio for the fermentative production of natural food sweetener products from abundant, renewable feedstocks.

The xylitol technology was developed by zuChem in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and the Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation (BRDC) under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. zuChem is the exclusive licensee of this patent under its relationship with the BRDC, to whom this patent is assigned. The mannitol technology was acquired from Hydrios Biotechnology Ltd. of Helsinki, Finland as part of a portfolio of patents developed by Hydrios and the Laboratory of Bioprocess Engineering at Helsinki University of Technology. This technology is now an important component of zuChem’s fermentative mannitol process, which has been approved by the FDA as a safe and effective method for the production of mannitol.

Xylitol and mannitol belong to a class of specialty sweeteners called polyols, and have traditionally been produced from by chemical hydrogenation. The demand for these sweeteners is on the rise because of their unique health properties and growing demand in products such as gum, candy, beverages, diabetic foods and other sugar-free confectionery products. zuChem’s processes are natural fermentative alternatives to the chemical process and utilize readily available biomass as feedstocks.

“We are very pleased by this addition to our intellectual property portfolio on novel biosynthetic production processes of both xylitol and mannitol,” David Demirjian, Ph.D., President and CEO, zuChem. “Our xylitol process is now in scale-up with our first commercial manufacturing partner and we hope to have product on the market in 2014” Dr. Demirjian is slated to give a presentation of the xylitol process at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology on June 17th in Montreal, Canada.

About zuChem, Inc.

zuChem focuses on commercializing innovative manufacturing processes for unique specialized carbohydrates for the food, fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates industries. These specialized carbohydrates are key components of many drugs and drug candidates as well as many specialty food ingredients. The company is headquartered in Chicago, IL, with research operations in Peoria, IL. For more information on zuChem’s xylitol manufacturing process and the availability of other specialty chemicals processes, please contact:

Rajni Aneja
info@zuChem.com
2225 W. Harrison, Suite F
Chicago, IL 60612
Tel: (312) 997-2150