Press Release 2010

Japan's leading diversified materials manufacturer Nitto Denko Corporation (Nitto Denko) has launched its next-generation high-loading polymeric solid support product "NittoPhase™HL" for oligonucleotide synthesis, Nitto Denko announced today.  
The latest product which has been marketed and sampled by Kinovate Life Sciences, Inc. (KLS), one of Nitto Denko’s global subsidiaries located in California, U.S.A., and market leader in solid support (*) for oligonculeotide synthesis, was introduced at the TIDES 2010 (Oligonucleotide and Peptide) international conference and expo held in Boston from April 26. Oligonucleotides are short nucleic acid polymers often used for diagnositic and therapeutic applications to human disorders.

(*) Manufacture of oligonucleotide drugs involves use of solid support matrix upon which chemical reactions occur in a cyclic manner. These reactions are performed on a fully automated synthesizer. At the end of synthesis, drugs are purified by various chromatographic techniques and characterized extensively to check their authenticity and purity. Thus solid support plays a crucial role in the manufacture of oligonucleotide drugs. It is increasingly believed that the yield of full-length oligonucleotide product is greatly influenced by the proper design of a polymeric support which undergoes roughly eighty chemical reactions in about eight hours for a 20-mer oligonucleotide. 

Utilizing the unparalleled polymer synthesis and R&D capabilities of Nitto Denko and KLS’s worldwide marketing operations, this new product promises to deliver significantly improved technical and economic outcomes for all segments of the oligonucleotide industry with no compromise in quality. 
Nitto Denko has kept its leading position in the market for solid support for chemical synthesis of “nucleic acids drugs” in the form of oligo-nucleic acids such as DNAs and RNAs, by commercially supplying through KLS such solids supports in the form of polymer beads under the trade name “NittoPhase™
The latest advanced product NittoPhase™HL has made it possible for the first time in the world to improve the RNA synthesis yield and to synthesize both DNAs and RNAs with high yields as well as purity, and with high loading, no less. By “loading” is meant the number of nucleic acids that can be synthesized on the bead surface.  
In through testing, NittoPhase™HL loaded at dosages of up to 400μmol/g and 250μmol/g, with consistently strong yields and excellent full length purity when utilized for DNA and RNA synthesis, respectively. The increase in synthesis scale per gram of support when compared with the predecessor model NittoPhase™ was shown to be roughly double in the case of DNA, and more than 1.5 times, with RNA. With such extremely high loadings, NittoPhase™HL promises to deliver high efficiency of oligonucleotide production, namely, in the form of significant reductions in the per micromole costs.

In the field of biomedicine, high hopes are being placed in the recent years on “nucleic acid drugs” -- oligo-nucleic acids such as DNAs and RNAs – that are delivered into the human body for the purpose of treating illnesses. In particular, dual-chain siRNA (small interfering RNA) drugs consisting of about 20 bases are attracting much attention, with much expansion expected for nucleic acid drug synthesis market including siRNA drugs. 
It was with such a backdrop that Nitto Denko and its U.S. research company Nitto Denko Technical Corporation (NDT), also located in California, made further improvements to the predecessor product NittoPhase™, to newly come up with NittoPhase™HL demonstrating yet more high-performance, and decided on marketing the latest product through KLS.

By leveraging its own unique bead design (composition and polymer structure), Nitto Denko and NDT have made it possible for the first time in the world to synthesize nucleic acid drugs consisting of DNAs and RNAs with high yields as well as purity, and with high loading.

Introduced at TIDES 2010 held in Boston from April 26 to 28, 2010, NittoPhase™HL is now being marketed via KLS, with expansion into next-generation nucleic acid drugs-related fields such as siRNAs, in the horizon. At the same time, marketing and sale of the original NittoPhase™product will be continued.

Established in October 2000 at Oceanside in the outskirts of San Diego, California, Nitto Denko’s wholly owned subsidiary Nitto Denko Technical Corporation (NDT) (www.ndtcorp.com) with a headcount of some 100, is engaged in R&D activities focusing on: (1) Biomedical materials (Drug delivery , gene delivery and solid supports for nucleic acid synthesis); (2) Optical communications materials; and (3) Nano-materials.