6th Annual World Congress on Industrial
Biotechnology & Bioprocessing
General Session on “International Perspectives
in Industrial Biotechnology Business Solutions”
July 19-22, 2009 – Montreal, Canada
“Industrial Biotechnology – which business
opportunities for Switzerland?”
Hans-Peter Meyer Lonza AG, 3930 Visp, Switzerland
Switzerland in a nutshell
No significant natural resources except H2O. >25% of the territory high
alpine terrain.
Population: 7,6 million
4’128’550 hectares (41’285 km2)
GDP 541 billion Swiss Francs (75’000.-CHF p.c.)
1’400 m2 arable land p.c.
Energy consumption: 900’040 TJ
Red biotechnology #1 worldwide (on a p.c. basis)
Industrial biotechnology: not a significant contributor to the GDP
No bio-fuel or bio-commodity activities
April, 15, 2009
H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
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Industrial (white) biotechnology
Huge business potential
Sustainable operations
Capital investments lower than with red biotech
R&D spending/market potential ~65 times lower
IPR & life cycles of products
Potential spread over diverse markets, products and biotechnologies
Empty toolbox
Too much lobbying
Missing assessment standards
Integrative roadmap
H.-P. Meyer “We need a different roadmap” CHEManager Europe (2009) 5:7
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H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
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Biobased economy?
Bio-fuels and bio-petrochemicals: Switzerland is not competitive
Comparison of Alberta (Canada) and Switzerland (2007 numbers)
Surface:
Topography:
Alberta
Switzerland
661‘185 km2
41’290 km2
Fertile plains & mountains
Population:
GDP:
3,5 million
Mountains & fertile plains
7,2 million
$ 259 billion
$ 541 billion
20 mio ha
>1 mio ha
Forestds suitable for harvest: 22 mio ha
1 mio ha
Arable land for cropping:
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H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
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Perspectives of a Bio-based Economy
Switzerland does not have access to domestic agrocommodities.
Swiss agriculture geared towards specialties
No liquid bio-fuels (enzymatic conversion & fermentation*)
No bio-based bulk chemicals**
Bio-based solutions*** only in niches
Switzerland providing in R&D and innovation****
*
**
***
****
April, 15, 2009
Whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation
How fast can oil be substituted as energy carrier?
Excluding subsidies from government
Fine chemistry & pharma are innovation drivers
H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
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Sustainability and the chemical industry
Waste generated per kg of product* produced.
Bulk chemicals > 0,1 kg
Fine Chemicals 5 to 50 kg
Pharmaceuticals 25 to 100 kg*
*The trend to ever more complex molecules makes the situation much worse than described by J M Woodley
Source J M Woodley TIBTECH (2008) 26:321-327
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One example of wasteful synthesis
Raw materials needed for the production of 20 kg of a 9mer peptide.
Raw material
Bill of material needed for producing 20 kg
peptides
Amino acids
TCTU
Piperidine
NMP
DCM
Acetonitrile
USP water
0.4 tons
0.3 tons
6.5 tons
100 tons
80 tons
35 tons
300 tons
TCTU [1-Bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-5-chloro-3-oxy-1H-benzotriazol-1-iumtetrafluoroborate.
NMP 1-Methylpyrrolidine-2-one
DCM Dichloromethane
USP United States Pharmacopeia
H.-P. Meyer, O. Ghisalba, J Leresche “Biotransformation and the Pharma Industry”. In: Handbook of
Green Chemistry Vol 3 (2009) 171-212 WILEY-VCH
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International perspectives
Fine chemistry and specialty chemical market >750 billion US$
Peptide synthesis
Nucleotide & Oligosaccharide (Tides) synthesis
Complex small molecules
Biomaterials functionalisations
Fragrance & Flavour products
etc…
Economically & ecologically superior processes & products.
No low hanging fruits - but immediate impact!
Fine chem & pharma as innovation drivers.
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H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
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LIFT and synthetic biology
LONZA Innovation for Future Technologies = LIFT
As a corporate function
Handled separately from the day-to-day business
Timeframe is 5-8 years
High risk but high potential
Annual budget of 15-20 Mio CHF per year
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Acknowledgement
SIBC April, 15, 2009
H.-P. Meyer BioWorld 2009
slide 10