Burcon announces technology advancements

14/10/05 Burcon NutraScience Corporation has announced that it has successfully developed modifications to its patented protein extraction process that improve the physical and functional properties of Puratein(R) and Supertein(TM) which is expected to enable their use in a broader array of food and beverage applications. Burcon and its license and development partner, Archer Daniels Midland ("ADM"), are working together to produce quantities of Puratein(R) and Supertein(TM) sufficient for further applications work and studies required for regulatory recognition, "GRAS status," for Puratein(R) and Supertein(TM) from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Burcon is also pleased to announce that, in relation to the process modifications now incorporated into Burcon's protein extraction technology, Burcon has filed additional patent applications over these novel new processing steps.

In the U.S., Canada, and Europe, new food ingredient products, which have heretofore not been consumed by humans in the amounts proposed under marketing efforts, must be assessed together with documentation supporting the new products' safety. Key components of this documentation are toxicology feeding studies. These studies are conducted with the product which will ultimately be marketed and which is produced using the defined final manufacturing process.

Since both the process by which a new ingredient is produced and the resultant toxicology feeding trial results are connected, the toxicology feeding trials for Puratein(R) and Supertein(TM) could only be conducted after Burcon and ADM had determined the optimized extraction process by which the proteins will be produced.

Although Burcon has demonstrated to ADM the ability to produce proteins with improved physical and functional properties, the production thereof  to-date has been limited to a small pilot-scale level. The two companies' development plans dictate that the new process now needs to be refined and optimized at an even larger scale in order to produce the samples sufficient for large-scale applications testing as well as for the important regulatory feeding trial studies. As such, Burcon and ADM have already scheduled additional large pilot-scale production tests at third-party facilities and are continuing research and development to improve and optimize Burcon's protein extraction process. The recently developed modifications are very encouraging, suggesting large-market food and beverage applications and imply that the parties can now re-initiate the regulatory recognition process. However, no assurance can be given: that Burcon and ADM's research and development activities will be successful, that the large pilot-sale production tests will result in suitable products, or that regulatory recognition of Burcon's proteins will ever be achieved.

Burcon is a research and development company developing a portfolio of composition, application, and process patents around its plant protein extraction and purification technology. The goal of Burcon's research is to develop its patented process to utilize inexpensive oilseed meals for the production of purified plant proteins that exhibit valuable nutritional, functional or nutraceutical profiles. Burcon, in conjunction with Archer Daniels Midland, is currently focusing its efforts on developing the world's first commercial canola proteins, Puratein(R) and Supertein(TM). Canola, recognized for its nutritional qualities, is the second-largest oilseed crop in the world after soybeans. Burcon's goal is to develop Puratein and Supertein to participate with soy, dairy, and egg proteins in the expanding multi-billion-dollar protein ingredient market, with potential uses in prepared foods, nutritional supplements, and personal care products.

http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/October2005/13/c0466.html