Current Flavor Programs
Flavor Enhancers and Bitter Blockers Programs
We are currently pursuing the discovery and development of savory, sweet, salt, and cool flavor enhancers as well as ingredients that block bitter taste.
Savory Enhancer Program
The primary applications of the Company’s savory flavor ingredients are to reduce or replace monosodium glutamate (MSG) and to enhance the savory taste of foods by combining Senomyx’s savory flavors with other ingredients to create unique new flavors. Using our high-throughput savory receptor-based assay system, Senomyx identified four savory flavor ingredients that enhance the taste of naturally occurring glutamate and may be used to reduce or replace added MSG and inosine monophosphate, or IMP, an expensive enhancer of MSG taste. Senomyx's novel savory flavor ingredients have received regulatory approval in the U.S. and many other countries, including China, the world's largest MSG market. Nestlé SA, the world's largest food company, is currently marketing products that contain one of Senomyx's flavor ingredients.
Sweet Enhancer Program
The primary goal for Senomyx’s Sweet Enhancer Program is to identify flavor ingredients that allow a significant reduction of sweeteners in food and beverage products while maintaining the desired sweet taste. Senomyx has two partners for this program – PepsiCo, the world’s second-largest food and beverage business, and Firmenich, SA, a global leader in providing ingredients and flavor systems to major consumer companies.
Using our high-throughput sweet receptor-based assay system, Senomyx discovered S2383, a novel enhancer of the high-intensity sweetener sucralose that enables up to a 75% reduction of sucralose in product prototypes without compromising the sweet intensity or producing off-tastes. Sucralose is a high-intensity sweetener used in a wide variety of beverages and foods such as confectionaries, baked goods, desserts, and dairy products, as well as over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare products and dietary supplements. Use of S2383 may also result in an improved taste compared to sucralose alone when incorporated into a flavor system. S2383 has been granted a GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) regulatory designation that allows commercialization in the U.S. and other countries. S2383 will be marketed by Firmenich, SA.
Senomyx has also discovered S6973, an enhancer of sucrose (table sugar) that enables up to 50% reduction of sugar in numerous product prototypes while retaining the natural taste. Reducing the quantity of sucrose in products could be advantageous for consumers seeking to limit sugar in their diets and for manufacturers that would like to offer products with improved nutritional profiles without compromising on taste. Senomyx received a GRAS designation for S6973 in October 2009. The GRAS designation allows usage of S6973 in baked goods, cereals, gum, condiments and relishes, confectioneries and frostings, frozen dairy offerings, fruit ices, gelatins and puddings, hard and soft candy, jams and jellies, milk products, and sauces. During the first quarter of 2010, the GRAS status for S6973 was extended to instant coffee and tea, and imitation dairy products. Firmenich, SA has exclusive rights to commercialize S6973 worldwide in virtually all food product categories.
In March 2010, we announced the identification of the first Senomyx flavor ingredients that demonstrate a statistically significant amplification of the sweet taste of fructose, a key component of high fructose corn syrup, a widely used sweetener. High fructose corn syrup is the primary sweetener used in carbonated and certain other beverages, especially in North America. The new fructose enhancers will be optimized to increase their potency and evaluated further in taste tests.
Bitter Blockers Program
The primary goals of Senomyx’s Bitter Blocker Program are to reduce or block bitter taste and to improve the overall taste characteristics of foods, beverages, and ingredients. Taste tests have demonstrated that the Company’s bitter blockers can provide statistically significant reductions in the bitterness of a variety of product prototypes and food ingredients including tea, cocoa, menthol, Rebaudioside-A (stevia), and the widely used sweeteners Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) and saccharine. Reducing bitterness would be valuable for the many manufacturers who want to improve the taste characteristics of food, beverage, healthcare, and other products. Senomyx is conducting development activities intended to support regulatory filings for promising bitter blockers.
Salt Enhancer Program
The goal of our Salt Enhancer Program is to identify flavor ingredients that allow a significant reduction of sodium in foods and beverages yet maintain the salty taste desirable to consumers. Senomyx discovered SNMX-29, the protein we believe is the primary receptor responsible for human salt taste perception. We have identified more than 250 enhancers of sodium chloride (table salt) that are active in our proprietary screening assays based on SNMX-29. These enhancers represent 12 diverse sample classes and therefore may provide numerous opportunities for the discovery of a new flavor ingredient that enables a reduction in the use of salt. The enhancers are being optimized and evaluated in taste tests.
Cooling Flavor Program
The goal of Senomyx’s Cooling Flavor Program is to identify novel cooling flavor ingredients that do not have the limitations of currently available agents such as weak cooling characteristics, bitter off-tastes, limited solubility, and non-proprietary status. Senomyx has developed a proprietary high-throughput screening assay using the receptor associated with cool and menthol taste sensations. Using this assay, we discovered new cooling flavors that provided a taste proof-of-concept. Additional samples are being screened and those that are active in the assay will be evaluated in taste tests to determine their cooling taste effect.
