SAFC Enters South Korean BioPharma Market with CrystalGenomics Agreement

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ: SIAL) today announced that its custom manufacturing and services business unit, SAFC^® (www.safcglobal.com), has signed an agreement with Seoul, South Korea-based CrystalGenomics to support the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for next-generation non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). The agreement represents SAFC's premier pre-formulation services contract into the growing South Korean pharmaceutical market.

CrystalGenomics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that engages in the discovery and development of innovative drugs based on structural chemoproteomics, a technology designed to accelerate drug discovery. The company is developing three clinical stage candidates. The lead program is a next-generation NSAID for osteoarthritis and is in phase 3 development. In addition to next-generation NSAID, the company is developing multiple novel candidates in various stages of development for various therapeutic areas with focus on inflammation, oncology, CNS and infection.

Per the agreement, CrystalGenomics will employ SAFC's Pharmorphix^® Pre-formulation Technology services which are based in Cambridge, UK, to enable understandings of the physical properties of APIs. The services can also aid in determining the selection of optimal crystallization processes, ensure batch-to-batch consistency in manufacturing and help to maintain efficacy and patient safety.

"Our expertise in the pre-formulation of pharmaceuticals has allowed us to engage with CrystalGenomics through this agreement and to introduce our unique technologies to the South Korea market," said SAFC President, Gilles Cottier. "As the drug discovery and development process becomes increasingly complex and expensive, we feel that our pre-formulation services are well-positioned to help pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies around the globe to accelerate their pipelines."

To learn more about the latest advances in SAFC's pre-formulation services, visit
Pharmorphix® Solid State Chemistry Services | Complex Emerging Technologies.

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "introduce," well positioned," "enable," "will," "help," "aid, "maintain" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived there from. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. There can be no guarantee that the services to be offered by SAFC as described herein will continue to meet the ultimate requirements of CrystalGenomics or any other customer. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of these products will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. In particular, management's expectations regarding these products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About SAFC:  SAFC, the custom manufacturing and services business unit of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, is recognized as a top 10 global specialty chemicals and biologics supplier. As a trusted manufacturer for the life science and high technology industries, SAFC works closely with customers to resolve development challenges and accelerate the product pipeline utilizing its global "Centers of Excellence" and dedicated manufacturing facilities. Its rich portfolio includes high-purity inorganic materials for high technology applications, critical raw materials and extensive biologics safety testing services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and complex, high-potent APIs and key intermediates for pharmaceutical manufacturing. For more information, visit www.safcglobal.com.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical, organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich customers include more than 1.3 million scientists and technologists in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and industry. The Company operates in 38 countries and has nearly 9,100 employees whose objective is to provide excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to accelerating customer success through innovation and leadership in Life Science and High Technology. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, visit www.sigma-aldrich.com.

©2012 Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC. All rights reserved. SAFC is a trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC or its Affiliates, registered in the US and other countries.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation

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