Kemin Pharma Acquires Amalyte Pharmaceuticals in Bid to Expand Pharma Business

Kemin Pharma Acquires Amalyte Pharmaceuticals in Bid to Expand Pharma Business
6/5/2009


DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kemin Industries today announced the acquisition of Amalyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Amalyte"). The company has been reorganized and re-incorporated as Amalyte Pharmaceuticals LLC. The new Amalyte will operate as a separate, wholly-owned subsidiary of Kemin. This will provide a path for further clinical development of Amalyte's product pipeline and will allow Kemin to expand its development portfolio and pharmaceutical business, leveraging its clinical and preclinical capabilities in Europe and Asia.

Kemin began developing a pipeline of human therapeutic products in 2004 and today has a healthy portfolio of preclinical and clinical stage anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory compounds. Kemin is in Phase IIb clinical trials with its earliest discovery, Bacillus subtilis PB6, an effective bacterium against Clostridium Difficile associated diarrhea and other acute and chronic gastrointestinal diseases.

Amalyte, a San Francisco Bay Area-based biopharmaceutical company, has focused on identifying and developing novel therapies for the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases since 2006. Founded by a seasoned team of pharmaceutical industry veterans, Amalyte's therapeutic programs focus primarily on pulmonary as well as gastrointestinal indications, encompassing a series of drug classes at different stages of development.

"Amalyte was looking for a strategic partner to provide financing, expertise, and capability to help it advance its clinical stage programs," said Dr. David Nelson, Vice President of Business Development for Amalyte. "In Kemin, we found all of those things in one package."

"We are very excited to partner with Kemin on this promising class of compounds," said Dr. Jon Saxe, Chairman of the Board for Amalyte. "Kemin is a particularly good fit with our programs as they have developed expertise in the indications that are a top priority for Amalyte."

Under the new Amalyte, Dr. Christopher Nelson, President of Kemin Industries, will become Chairman of the Board and Keith A. Bostian will remain CEO. The founding team will also remain engaged with the Amalyte programs.

"Kemin is committed to the discovery and commercialization of products that positively impact the lives of our customers," said Dr. Chris Nelson. "Acquisitions and in-licensing of promising clinical stage candidates are components of our strategy to rapidly grow our pharmaceutical business. This acquisition of Amalyte provides one of the first key steps towards that important goal, and we look forward to working with the Amalyte team to advance a very attractive development pipeline."

Amalyte Pharmaceuticals LLC

Amalyte Pharmaceuticals LLC (www.amalyte.com) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing novel therapies for the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases. Amalyte is committed to addressing indications with significant unmet medical needs in large, multi-billion dollar markets. The company's strategy is to use licensing and capital efficient and highly capable clinical partners to accelerate its platform and shareholder value.

Kemin® - Inspired Molecular SolutionsTM

Founded in 1961, Kemin Industries Inc. (www.kemin.com) provides health and nutritional solutions to the agrifoods, food ingredients, pet food, human health and pharmaceutical industries. Kemin operates in more than 60 countries with manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.

Contact:

Kemin Industries Inc. and Amalyte LLC Kerty Levy, 515-559-5430 [email protected] or Charlotte Jacobs, 515-248-4020 [email protected]