Mass High Tech - December 11, 2009

MedChem Partners wins SBIR grant
Mass High Tech

MedChem Partners LLC, a Medford-based medicinal chemistry provider, has won a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation for the “modification of natural products.”

The company is developing techniques to make semi-synthetic analogs from natural products, which makes them a better source of new drug candidates. The process allows MedChem to alter the core of the natural product, breaking down the chemistry to build new core structures.

MedChem officials said in a press release that the process generates new molecules that may be patentable.

The company did not disclose the amount funding the grant would provide.