Senomyx Announces Initiation of Development Activities for New Sucrose Enhancer

30 Jul 2008

30/08/07 Senomyx, Inc., a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries, announced that it has initiated development activities for a new sucrose enhancer, S6973. Sucrose (otherwise known as common table sugar) is widely used in many food and beverage products. Taste tests have demonstrated that S6973 enables the reduction of up to 50% of the sucrose present in product prototypes while maintaining the sweet taste of natural sugar.

"Senomyx believes that S6973 has the potential to be used to enhance the sweet taste of sucrose in numerous food and beverage products," said Kent Snyder, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Senomyx. "The discovery of S6973 is a major scientific accomplishment and represents a significant commercial opportunity for Senomyx. Flavor ingredients that enable a meaningful reduction in sucrose without compromising taste would provide consumers with new choices for products with lower calories and therefore improved nutritional profiles."

Unlike typical sugar alternatives, S6973 does not have a sweet taste of its own in taste tests with product prototypes. Instead, it is a unique flavor ingredient intended to amplify the sweet taste of the sugar present in a food or beverage. "Taste tests conducted by Senomyx have shown that S6973 enhanced the sweet taste of yogurt, cereal, and cookie prototypes, as well as powdered and other beverages," noted John Poyhonen, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial and Business Officer at the Company. "Senomyx is also planning to incorporate S6973 in additional product prototypes for evaluation by potential future collaborators. These prototypes are representative of product categories that utilize sucrose such as ice cream and other dairy products, sauces and toppings, and baked goods."

The development phase includes scale-up activities and safety studies to support regulatory filings for S6973 in the U.S. and elsewhere. Concurrent with its work with S6973, Senomyx is completing development activities with S2383, an enhancer of the high-intensity sweetener sucralose. S2383 enabled up to a 75% reduction of sucralose in simple product prototypes, yet maintained the same sweet intensity without any off-tastes. The Company anticipates that S2383 will receive GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) regulatory status in the U.S. by the end of 2008.

"We are excited to have achieved such important breakthroughs in our Sweet Enhancer Program," added Mark Zoller, Ph.D., Senomyx's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Discovery and Development. "Reducing sugar consumption is a priority for consumers who have dietary concerns, particularly those related to obesity and diabetes. The new sucrose and sucralose enhancers were discovered utilizing Senomyx's patented taste receptor technology, which we are now using to focus on the discovery of enhancers of fructose, another carbohydrate sweetener used in a wide range of consumer products."