GeneHarbor (Hong Kong) Technologies, Co. is dedicated to the discovery of novel enzymes. Jun Wang, PhD, Chairman and CEO of the company, is careful to distinguish GeneHarbor from other enzyme companies that may, on the surface, appear similar: “Our major product is enzymes, but we are different from most other enzyme companies because we are primarily an R&D company, not a manufacturing company. We discover new enzymes for new applications,” he said in an exclusive interview with ChinaBio® Today.

“Most enzyme companies are making enzymes for existing markets,” continued Dr. Wang. “The competition between them is rigorous; it is a low-margin dogfight.”

GeneHarbor, on the other hand, is working to expand the spectrum of enzymatic applications. “We identify new enzymes for new applications so that products being made by chemical synthesis can be made by enzymes,” explained Dr. Wang.

In GeneHarbor’s view, the future for enzymes is bright. They are on the right side of the green movement, because an enzyme process, unlike chemical synthesis, does not create caustic by-products that require expensive disposal. GeneHarbor projects that the field of enzyme manufacture will grow from $2.5 billion in 2003 to $15-20 billion in 15 to 20 years. The company predicts enzymes will make their greatest contribution in the field of fine chemistry, a $600-$800 billion industry currently.

Done correctly, enzymatic processes involve fewer production steps, the products are purer than synthesized chemicals because the processes minimize the amount of by-products, and they do not require the expensive manufacturing machinery necessitated by high temperature or high pressure manufacturing steps.

The only problem with enzymes, not surprisingly, is cost. GeneHarbor has an answer for that: its proprietary Enzyme Platform Technology. “We have a number of patented technologies that make enzymes more suitable for industrial applications,” said Dr. Wang, “meaning they are high in catalytic efficiency and have a more stable, longer life span.”

GeneHarbor claims that has invented a number of new, enzyme-based process for manufacture of several API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) and nutraceutical products to substitute current high-cost, inefficient processes. “The cost of our process of GSH (glutathione), for example, is a fraction of the present manufacture process,” said Dr. Wang.

Manufacturing

Despite Dr. Wang’s emphasis that GeneHarbor is an R&D company, it hasn’t completely neglected the attractive manufacturing revenues that are made available by its technology. To prosper from this side of the business, it has established five manufacturing joint ventures to make new APIs and diversify the company’s revenue stream. “Most R&D companies do not have the ability to profit from manufacturing,” commented Dr. Wang. Because the company’s product is enzymes, not a drug, it doesn’t take much time to transfer new discoveries from the lab into manufacturing.

Manufacturing is just now kicking in to aid GeneHarbor’s revenues. “Industrial products have been in production since April and two more will begin this year, bringing the total to five,” said Dr. Wang. “We collect royalties on these products, and we expect profits from manufacturing will jump in the next few years.”

Enzymes to Create Ethanol

GeneHarbor is working on more than pharmaceutical products: it considers any chemical process fair game, including the green tech goal of using enzymes to produce biomass ethanol. “Most of the resources of our company are on this project,” observed Dr. Wang. “We are working toward creating a commercially viable biomass ethanol process. We still have some way to go because we must lower the cost further, but we are making tremendous progress.”

GeneHarbor has a number of ways to profit from its enzyme technology. The company can do a tech transfer, taking advantage of upfront fees and royalties to increase revenues, sell enzymes, perform contract research for new enzymes or, as already been mentioned, sell enzyme-generated products, as it has already begun to do through its joint venture partnerships.

The company currently employs 50 scientists in its R&D operation; 13 of these have PhDs while another 15 have received Masters Degrees. Dr. Wang points out that GeneHarbor runs a very lean operation: 85% of its employees are involved in R&D. He expects that the company will expand from 65 employees currently to as many as 80 by the end of 2009.

Funding

Although GeneHarbor has been profitable since 2005, the company has recently been seeking new investors because it wants to speed up progress on various projects. Although GeneHarbor has not made it official, Dr. Wang told ChinaBio® Today that it has secured a significant amount of new capital in April 2009.

GeneHarbor presented its story at the ChinaBio® Investor Forum held in Hong Kong during March. A panel, made up of biopharma venture capitalists active and major pharma business development executives were sufficiently impressed with the company’s story to give GeneHarbor one of two Most Promising Company Awards. “The publicity generated by winning the award helped us in our drive for new capital,” stated Dr. Wang.

Disclosure: none.