September 24, 2003
NanoBiotech News
describes her company's compounds as not cheap
but cost-effective.
Consequently, Nanosyn's product can be
especially attractive not only to big pharmaceuti-
cal companies, but also to small biotech compa-
nies looking to conserve their capital. "If we are
dealing with a biotech company which is inter-
ested only in compounds that can be put in
screening very fast, we give them the plate that is
ready for screening," she says.
The company's "Plug & Play" screening
libraries, for example, come in heat-sealed 96- or
384-well plates.
Another advantage is scalability
Nanosyn's founders say another advantage for
ANST is its scalability. They can apply the same
conditions to chemical reactions, achieving the same
standards of purity, whether they are synthesizing
on a nanoscale or producing milliliters of the
desired compound.
Issakova and Sepetov came to the United
States from Russia in 1992. Both had doctorates
in biophysics from Moscow Technical University,
she says, and worked in pharmaceutical research
throughout their careers. After immigrating, they
worked first for a small pharmaceutical com-
pany, then Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
"This was very useful," Issakova said. "It gave
us a good idea of customer needs."
They started Nanosyn in Tucson, AZ, but
moved to Menlo Park, CA, where the company
has 12 employees in a 30,000 square foot build-
ing. It claims the capacity to synthesize 50,000
compounds and purify 120,000 compounds per
year.
"People buy our libraries 100 plates at a
time, and in those 100 plates are about 8,800
compounds," says marketing director Kenji
Kudo. "What makes our libraries unique is
the scale. We can offer both quantity and cost
savings."
Editor's Note: Contact Nikolai Sepetov at (650)
853-7032 and Olga Issakova at (650) 853-7034 and
Kenji Kudo at (650) 853-7030.
Reprinted with permission from
NanoBiotech News, published by NHI Publications, Atlanta, GA. Copyright © 2003.
All rights reserved. For subscription information call (800) 597-6300 or visit
http://www.nanobiotechnews.com
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