Senomyx Ready to Commercialize Sweetness Enhancer

Senomyx (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNMX]]), the San Diego company using biotechnology to develop proprietary flavor enhancers and blockers, says that S6973, a compound it has been developing to enhance the intensity of sucrose, can now be commercialized.

In a statement today, Senomyx says it has learned that an expert panel that operates under the auspices of the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association has designated S6973 as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) under federal regulations that govern food additives. The designation follows an official review of data concerning the compound that Senomyx submitted to the industry group. With the GRAS designation in hand, Senomyx says it can now begin commercialization of the sweetness enhancer.

Senomyx says S6973 enables foodmakers to reduce sugar in foods and drinks by as much as 50 percent and still provide an equivalent sweet taste. In the statement, Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder calls the GRAS determination “one of Senomyx’s most important achievements and represents a significant commercial opportunity for the Company.”

When Senomyx announced in August that it was expanding its collaboration with Switzerland’s Firmenich, Senomyx spokeswoman Gwen Rosenberg told me that a $10 million milestone payment would be due when S6973 is ready for commercialization. The company was expecting that to happen as early as the first quarter of 2010. Firmenich now must decide if it wants to commercialize S6973, Rosenberg says.

Two other food companies also have rights to the compound, but Senomyx has not disclosed those partners.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.