Danisco withdraws enzyme product from market
Spezyme Ethyl product from the market following a patent
infringement ruling in a Delaware US court.
The ruling stated that a Novozymes patent has been infringed. Should the ruling be upheld it may result in Genencor being liable for compensation for the patent infringement.
Spezyme Ethyl is an alpha amylase enzyme used in ethanol production.
Danisco said that legal options are currently being reviewed. An appeal of the ruling is being considered.
"Overall, this court ruling will not materially affect Daniscos enzyme business including the ethanol segment," said CEO Tom Knutzen.
"The product withdrawn is just one of a full product range for the ethanol segment, which covers both the traditional ethanol production process and the 'no-cook' process, for which Genencor launched the Stargen 001 product in 2005."
This morning, Genencor also launched a new product, Spezyme Xtra to replace Spezyme Ethyl. The product has been successfully tested on both pilot and full scale at multiple customer sites.
Danisco has been following through the planned integration of Genencor since last year. The main part of the integration package has been initiated, which corresponds to more than 85 per cent of the estimated synergies of DKK 200 million to be realised over a three-year period.
Genencor achieved 8 per cent organic growth in the year.
"The takeover of Genencor has extended the ingredients business to other industries than foods in that industrial ingredients including technical enzyme - today represent around one fourth of revenue in ingredients," said Knutzen earlier this month.
Indeed, the company believes that such acquisitive activity should ensure that the group starts the new financial year in a strong position.
"The rising energy and raw material prices have produced a new challenge for Danisco as the market situation makes it hard to fully offset rising costs by price increases," said Knutzen.
"This will put greater demands on Danisco's innovation capabilities and business process efficiencies going forward. Danisco's organisation must therefore be able to effectively adjust to the ever more changeable trading conditions while maintaining a high level of competitive power."
