Innovase LLC, a Joint Venture between Dow and Diversa, Announces Research Collaboration with The Procter & Gamble Company

31-Jan-2001

Innovase LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Diversa Corporation (Nasdaq: DVSA) and The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), today announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG). Under the terms of the agreement, Innovase will discover, optimize and supply novel enzymes to P&G to further enhance the performance characteristics of products for detergent applications. Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. Specialized cleaning applications represent one of the high-value markets targeted by Innovase. Today's industrial enzymes are used in a variety of commercially significant applications, including detergents and other consumer products. Most commodity enzymes used in these markets today break down under the extreme temperature or pH conditions prevalent in many industrial environments or processes, which has limited their use. The use of enzymes in industrial and consumer applications can be greatly expanded by the discovery of novel enzymes with improved performance characteristics. Innovase intends to use Diversa's proprietary technologies -- which employ DNA directly extracted from biodiversity, and gene evolution processes -- to develop enzymes that overcome many of the constraints limiting industrial use of today's enzymes. Innovase LLC, formed in June of 2000, is focused on the development of industrial enzymes with improved characteristics for industrial and consumer applications. The joint venture will contract with Diversa to discover and evolve novel enzymes, and with Dow for process development and manufacturing. Diversa Corporation is a global leader in developing and applying proprietary technologies to discover and evolve novel genes and gene pathways from diverse environmental sources. Dow's world-class process development and manufacturing capabilities will help Innovase deliver useful products that meet customer needs.