Senomyx was an American
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
company that developed
food additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (salt ...
s. The company claimed to have "
reverse engineered
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
" human taste and aroma
receptors
Receptor may refer to:
*Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse
*Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a n ...
. It was founded by
Lubert Stryer
Lubert Stryer (born March 2, 1938, in Tianjin, China) is the Emeritus Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor of Cell Biology, at Stanford University School of Medicine. His research over more than four decades has been centered on the interplay of light ...
and Paul Nevsky in 1998. On 17 Sept 2018, private Swiss company
Firmenich
Firmenich SA is a private Swiss company in the fragrance and flavor business. It is the largest privately owned company in the field and ranks number two worldwide. Firmenich has created perfumes for over 125 years and produced a number of well-k ...
completed the acquisition of Senomyx.
History
Prominent
biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
Lubert Stryer
Lubert Stryer (born March 2, 1938, in Tianjin, China) is the Emeritus Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor of Cell Biology, at Stanford University School of Medicine. His research over more than four decades has been centered on the interplay of light ...
founded Senomyx in 1999. In May 2001, Stryer returned to his professorship at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and resigned from Senomyx, but continued to be the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Around the year 2001, Senomyx patented several flavor enhancers by using "proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems", which have been previously expressed in human
cell culture
Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This te ...
, in
HEK293 cells.
HEK293 cells are a
cell line
An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cell ...
widely used in biological and
medical research
Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...
, immortalized through a
genetic modification
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
removed from the original human embryonic kidney cells taken from a healthy,
aborted
Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in 1995 in Waregem. The group currently consists of vocalist, founder and only constant member Sven de Caluwé, guitarist Ian Jekelis, bassist Stefano Franceschini and drummer Ken Bedene. Although th ...
human
fetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
in the early 1970s.
[Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting]
p.81 , Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) is one of six main centers for the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The current Dir ...
, May 16, 2001
The company's stock declined after
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...
reversed a trial rollout of Senomyx ingredients in their sodas in 2016.
Products
Senomyx's products work by amplifying the intensity of flavors. Because very small amounts of the additive are used (reportedly less than one part per million), Senomyx has no obligation to report their ingredients to the consumer. Senomyx products fall under the broad category of "artificial flavors." For the same reason, the company's chemicals have not undergone the
FDA
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...
safety approval{{citation needed, date=February 2021. Senomyx's MSG-enhancer gained the
Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the
Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association
The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) is a food industry trade group based in the United States. FEMA was founded in 1909 by several flavor firms in response to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Founding members ...
, an industry-funded organization, in less than 18 months, "received a positive review by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, which determined that there were no safety concerns with the use of the Company's savory flavor ingredients in foods. The positive assessment by
JECFA
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is an international scientific expert committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and th ...
is expected to expedite regulatory approvals in a number of countries, particularly those that do not have independent regulatory approval systems."
References
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Companies based in San Diego
American companies established in 1999
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq