Broadens Product Range for Enantiomeric Separations

Illkirch Cedex, France — January 5, 2009. Chiral Technologies Europe (CTE), a wholly owned subsidiary of DAICEL Chemical Industries, Ltd, and the provider of DAICEL chromatography products and services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Europe and neighboring regions, is pleased to announce the acquisition of ChromTech Ltd, of Congleton, U.K.

The two companies’ combined product lines of enantioselective chromatography columns will provide a powerful solutions portfolio for developing assays for new and existing chiral entities by pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. With the addition of the ChromTech columns, CTE demonstrates its commitment to providing customers with an expanded ‘toolkit’ for enantiomeric separations. Commenting on the acquisition, CTE’s

President Dieter Heckmann stated, “We are extremely pleased with ChromTech’s decision to become part of Chiral Technologies. ChromTech’s specialty line of protein-based columns adds a complementary product range to our Daicel polysaccharide-based products.

The company’s expertise enables the continued expansion of our core capabilities in separation science and will provide us significant access to new opportunities in enantioselective chromatography.”

ChromTech’s founder and Managing Director Prof. Jörgen Hermansson stated, “We are very excited to become part of Chiral Technologies Europe. Powered with the strength and reputation of Daicel Industries, Chiral Technologies has become the premier supplier of high quality separation solutions of chiral compounds worldwide. We are proud to add our chirality tools to those of Chiral Technologies.”

The ChromTech protein-based columns, CHIRAL-AGP, CHIRAL-CBH, and CHIRAL-HSA, function entirely in reversed-phase mode, using buffers with low organic modifier content and at moderate pH values, and favor the more highly water-soluble molecules. DAICEL columns, including the CHIRALCEL®, CHIRALPAK® and CROWNPAK® brand names, excel in organic mobile phases and are more suited to compounds of higher lipophilicity; they are also used in reversed-phase mode at the extremes of the pH range.