US life sciences company Cambrex has linked up with UK Dextra Laboratories to look into new pathways to chiral molecules used in active pharmaceuticals ingredients (APIs) and advanced intermediates.

Although details of the agreement were not disclosed, Dextra , involved in the early development of sugar and carbohydrate technologies used to produce chiral pharmaceutical buildingblocks, will work with Cambrex to generate more complex molecules.

"Our collaboration with Dextra will enhance our in-house capabilities with unique technologies to produce multiple chiral centres and generate more complex molecules with enhanced functionality through the addition of carbohydrate side chains," said Gary Mossman, president Cambrex Pharma business unit. "We believe the alliance will enhance our portfolio of enabling technologies for novel new drugs from a single source,"he added.

Carbohydrates are components of many drugs and drug intermediates and can be derived from the carbohydrate pool. Carbohydrates provide a means to achieve multiple contiguous chiral centers that can be chemically manipulated to form the desired drug intermediate.

"We believe that this alliance can pave the way to new classes of drug candidates through the provision of hitherto unavailable chiral structures in quantities suitable for practical development work," commented Dr. Andrew Hacking, joint managing director of the UK company.