Roche signs up for ingredient tech

Invest in Denmark, part of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports this week that fledgling Danish biotech company Up Front Chromatography, the patent holder of a production technology for food ingredients, has signed a licence agreement with Swiss medical giant Roche.

According to the report Copenhagen based Up Front has developed and patented a technology which enables production of certain molecules used in food ingredients.

Although the method might not be new, innovation comes from the fact that Up Front has made the production process several steps shorter, consequently making it cheaper.

Roche Vitamins, a division of Roche, will use the technology for production of certain ingredients for cosmetics, as well as for pharmaceutical products and human and animal foods.

Although financial details about the agreement were not revealed, the Danish trade report said that the company expects to increase its workforce by 50 per cent this year.

Up Front currently employs 17 people with 90 per cent of the shares owned by Singapore based venture company Vertex Management. Up Front managing director Allan Lihme owns the remaining 10 per cent. The news was also reported by the financial daily newspaper Børsen.