SAN MARINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viral Genetics’ (Pinksheets: VRAL) majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy, has contracted with Eno Research Chemicals & Custom Synthesis Group for production of its LipidMax™ lipid enhancement compound, in sufficient capacity to meet demand from commercial and research end-users worldwide.
Orders for LipidMax can be placed at https://store.vgenergy.net/. Once approved for purchases, customers will be shipped LipidMax in 10g units. Additional information is also available at lipidmax@vgenergy.net.
LipidMax, the first product marketed by VG Energy, is a lipid-enhancement compound for use in the production of oils from algae, corn, palm, and other plants or plant-like organisms and is based on the Company’s exclusively licensed Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT).
Independent testing has shown that, when treated with LipidMax, the yields from several algae and algae-like species including Schizochytrium, Prymnesium parvum, and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have shown significant increases in oil (lipid) yields. Similar, if not stronger, results have been observed in palm and other oil-producing plants. The Company believes that LipidMax should generate oil-enhancing results in most other species of plants and plant-like organisms beyond those mentioned, and is continuing testing to validate and quantify this.
The oil yield increase is thought to provide a possible catalyst for changing the economic feasibility for algal-derived biofuels in the marketplace, making biofuels more cost-competitive, when compared to petroleum-based fuels. Similar cost-reduction effects in plant oils used as food, nutraceuticals and cosmetics should also result from productivity-enhancement.
The company joins a newly emerging category of businesses called “intermediates”1 in the biofuels and bio-chemical sectors. These products can be utilized in the production of an array of fuels, chemicals, flavors, fragrances and other end products. Intermediates constitute building blocks and intermediate steps upon which other processes and products are built, and as such can become integral to building the value chain in these rapidly growing bio-based industries.
VG Energy’s Chief Scientist, Dr. M. Karen Newell-Rogers, noted that the Eno Research Chemicals and Custom Synthesis Group is fully cGMP- and cGLP-compliant, has passed a rigorous set of internal testing protocols, and the product produced at the facility meets the company’s standards for chemical consistency, purity and yield. “When scaled up to commercially viable quantities, the LipidMax produced at this facility meets or exceeds the same quality standards we established using smaller research-grade batches at the Agrilife facilities. The process of commercial or industrial scale-up of a chemical such as our product can sometimes alter the ultimate activity of a compound, but LipidMax produced at scaled up production protocols has shown to match the results we observed during initial evaluations.”
Haig Keledjian, Viral Genetics’ CEO said, “This marks the transition to commercialization from a purely research based company and we are very pleased and excited to now commence sales of our LipidMax product to customers in the bio-fuels, and high quality edible and nutraceutical oil markets.”
Mr. Keledjian continued, “We expect that initial customers will be industrial laboratories and academic research institutions looking to establish and verify the economic advantages of LipidMax that we have demonstrated in our own and independent testing. As end users attain increased yields of usable oil in commercial size quantities, we anticipate a rapid and widespread awareness of LipidMax, leading to adoption of LipidMax in a host of industries worldwide including algal biofuel and palm oil, amongst others.”
Concluded Mr. Keledjian, “An increased yield can mean one of two things to manufacturers: either larger revenues, or significantly increased margins. Either instance bodes well for the sales of LipidMax and we anticipate that LipidMax will generate revenues from a combination of retail sales, wholesale level arrangements, and licensing agreements,” concluded Mr. Keledjian.
About VG Energy
VG Energy Inc. is an alternative energy and
agricultural biotech company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of
Viral Genetics Inc., a biotechnology company researching new treatments
and methods of detection for diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS and
others. Using its Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT), Viral Genetics’
cancer research led to discoveries with major consequences in a wide
variety of other industries, including biofuel, vegetable oils and other
high value oils and chemicals. VG Energy holds the exclusive worldwide
license to the MDT patent rights for use in the increase of production
of various plant-derived oils from algae and seeds. These pivotal
discoveries promise to allow the biofuel industry to overcome its major
obstacle in the area of production efficiency: namely, an increase in
production yields leading to feasible economic returns on investment,
allowing renewable biodiesel to be competitive with fossil fuels. For
more information, please visit http://www.vgenergy.net.
About Eno Research Consulting Services, LLC
Eno Research &
Consulting Services, LLC (ERCS), is based in Hillsborough, North
Carolina and has a scientific staff with expertise in the areas of
biotechnology, pharmacology, synthetic and analytical chemistry, in
silicon modeling of drug interaction/binding, rational drug design and
manufacturing. ERCS offers a wide range of contract R&D and
manufacturing services, including new lead discovery, drug discovery and
target optimization; experimental- & industrial process-scale synthetic
chemistry services through its Research Chemicals & Custom Synthesis
division; full-service, cGMP-compliant manufacturing and packaging
operations, with nearly 2,000sf of cleanroom production areas and
automated, high-speed product formulation, packaging and labeling
capacity for both liquid and powder filling; single-unit to bulk-pallet
order fulfillment capabilities; and complete analytical and validation
services. With this expertise, ERCS can offer services along the full
spectrum of product discovery, validation, manufacturing and
distribution to any client, from small start-up companies to
international pharmaceutical organizations. http://www.enoresearch.com
About Viral Genetics, Inc.
San Marino, California-based
Viral Genetics discovers drug therapies from two platform technologies
based on over 60 patents: Metabolic Disruption (MDT) and Targeted
Peptides (TPT). Founded in 1994, the biotech company is researching
treatments for HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, Strep, Staph and drug resistant
cancer. A majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy (www.vgenergy.net),
is dedicated to exploring biofuel and agricultural applications for the
MDT platform. For more information, visit www.viralgenetics.com.
SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
This news release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties
associated with financial projections, budgets, milestone timelines,
clinical development, regulatory approvals, and other risks described by
Viral Genetics, Inc. from time to time in its periodic reports,
including statements about its VG Energy, Inc. subsidiary. None of Viral
Genetics' drug compounds are approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the
world, nor are any non-pharmaceutical products of VG Energy, Inc.
commercialized. While Viral Genetics believes that the forward-looking
statements and underlying assumptions reasonable, any of the assumptions
could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of Viral
Genetics to establish the efficacy of any of its drug therapies in the
treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies
and strategies leading to commercialization of those drug compounds in
the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the
development plan, the completion of studies and tests on time or at all,
the successful outcome of such studies or tests, or the successful
commercialization of VG Energy, Inc.’s non-pharmaceutical products.
Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements
included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the
significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements
included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded
as a representation by Viral Genetics or any other person that the
objectives and plans of Viral Genetics will be achieved.
1 “Super-cali-thali-terpa-butyl-peta what? The hockey-stickin’, flash-mobbin’ growth in biobased intermediates”, BioFuels Digest, September 6, 2012