Cayman Chemical: Helping Make Research Possible in Michigan and Beyond

Helping Make Research Possible in Michigan and Beyond

BY DR. KIRK MAXEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAYMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cayman Chemical Company supplies scientists worldwide with the resources necessary for advancing human and animal health.

Cayman was founded in 1980 by the current CEO, Dr. Kirk Maxey, during his first year of medical school at the University of Michigan. Beyond the immediate need to help pay for tuition and living expenses, Dr. Maxey sought to demonstrate the value of naturally growing gorgonian coral as a renewable, economically viable source of prostaglandins—the potent lipids that act on almost all cells and tissues to control diverse biological functions. His vision was to provide affordable, high-quality prostaglandins to the research community. Within a matter of months, the new company, named for the Caribbean island where the coral was harvested, offered five prostaglandin standards.

Over the next decade, Cayman hired skilled organic chemists who developed methods for synthetic production of prostaglandins and their medically important analogs. Financial progress of the operation afforded Cayman the opportunity to acquire a small Colorado-based biochemical company, AIA Reagents, in 1988. With this acquisition, Cayman could respond to a market demand for a method of quantification of bioactive materials. Cayman’s biochemical division developed antibodies and immunoassays to detect steroids, lipids, and neuropeptides in various sample types.

By the mid-1990s, catalog sales surpassed $10 million, employees totaled 100, and Cayman was able to purchase the first facility in its now four-building campus. Cayman recognized the need to move beyond the bioactive lipid brand to sustain company growth. In the early 2000s, resources were invested in new facilities and personnel, taking full advantage of the Ann Arbor Pfizer facility closure in 2006 to hire additional medicinal chemists.

With an expanded chemistry division, Cayman capitalized on its experience with endogenous cannabinoids to begin manufacturing high-purity Schedule I-V controlled substances to federally licensed laboratories for forensic analysis and to qualified academic institutions for ongoing research. This product line included reference standards for identification of synthetic cannabinoids such as K2 and Spice seized by law enforcement and eventually expanded to include fentanyls and other opioids that emerged during the opioid crisis. To this day, Cayman collaborates with scientists, law enforcement, and policy experts alike to combat these overdose epidemics and prevent the rise of future drugs of abuse.

In 2006, Cayman extended internationally, opening a large-scale synthesis facility in the Czech Republic, while its Michigan campus continued to grow with the purchase of a separate biochemical facility to house recombinant protein and antibody production, assay development, and protein crystallization. With the combined experience of Cayman’s biochemical and chemical divisions and the necessary facilities located within the Ann Arbor campus, Cayman became suitably poised to undertake a legitimate drug discovery effort. Its approach to this is unique: Every Cayman scientist involved in drug discovery also contributes to the manufacture and development of catalog products and fulfillment of custom chemical syntheses and contract services. This not only provides revenue-producing projects to complete when not actively involved in drug discovery, but also generates a pipeline for innovative new research products.

The first drug discovery project Cayman undertook drew on the knowledge of prostaglandin A2, the coral extract that launched the company.

This project involved the development of small molecule agonists of the EP 4 receptor, one of four receptors of prostaglandin E 2 , in order to promote new bone growth for therapeutic use in conditions such as spinal fusion surgery or bone fracture repair. Today, Cayman continues to expand its drug discovery efforts, while at the same time offering a catalog of >14,000 products and contract research services that leverage the experience of Cayman’s 150 scientists. A scientific advisory board of highly established researchers regularly consults on key projects to keep the company forward-thinking.

Cayman is deeply committed to giving back to the community that supported these achievements. Cayman supports research symposiums for local universities and other research institutions, hosts student internships, and offers grants to young scientists. In addition, Cayman’s nonprofit organization CABRI was established to help those with unmet biomedical needs by supporting research to understand the orphan diseases that are often overlooked by the pharmaceutical industry.

Through all these endeavors, Cayman remains committed to its origins and its founding vision:

To provide affordable, high-quality biomedical products and to serve the research community. ■