Press Release: Circa’s Levoglucosenone Derivative Used In Award Winning Manufacturing Method For Investigational Cancer Drug

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Monday, 13 June 2022

Oslo, Norway – 13 June 2022 - Circa Group AS (Euronext Growth Oslo: CIRCA) today announced that its levoglucosenone derivative has been used as an intermediate in an award-winning manufacture process for an investigational drug for leukaemia.

The 2022 Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry recognised MSD for their work in developing green manufacturing technologies to enable the production of investigational leukaemia drug candidate from a biorenewable commodity material.

“This work demonstrates the potential of our bio-based platform molecule levoglucosenone (LGO) as a scaffold for the development of pharmaceuticals. I am delighted to see our products being used by a leading biopharmaceutical corporation, and in a way that delivers compelling environmental and efficiency improvements.” said Dr Jason Camp, CTO Circa Group.

The initial manufacturing process relied on an 11-step synthesis. The development team was able to reduce this to two steps thereby reducing energy utilization and both carbon dioxide and wastewater generation.

Dr Prashant Savle, Director of Global Procurement at MSD said, “Levoglucosenone and its derivatives are an efficient, versatile and sustainable platform for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. These derivatives will help us make these new medicines at a competitive price compared to that manufactured using traditional chemistry techniques.”

The Peter J. Dunn award was established by the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable to acknowledge outstanding industrial implementation of novel green chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry. The award was presented at the 26th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference on June 8, 2022, in Reston, Virginia.