The company said it had agreed to work with PepsiCo to commercialize the ingredient – dubbed S617 or S52617 – including making the necessary regulatory filings to assess its safety.
"Taste tests demonstrated that S617 allows a very meaningful reduction of HFCS and sucrose in product prototypes while maintaining the desired sweet taste,” CEO Kent Snyder said in a statement. “This was achieved with very low concentrations, which could provide important cost-in-use benefits to food and beverage companies that incorporate S617 in their products.
“In light of these valuable attributes, we have agreed to work with PepsiCo to advance this new flavor ingredient into the preliminary development phase, which includes the initial safety studies and other activities necessary to support regulatory filings in the U.S. and elsewhere.”
Senomyx made the announcement at the same time as it reported nearly flat revenues for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012, of $6.87m, compared to $6.97m for the prior year period, and a net loss of $3.09m, compared to a loss of $3.19m a year earlier.
The taste modifier is the first that Senomyx has developed that could be used with either HFCS or sucrose.
The company also announced that it had reacquired from PepsiCo the rights to its S9632 sucrose modifier, which can be used to reduce sugar content by up to 50% in powdered and concentrated beverages, and ready-to-drink and powdered forms of dairy, coffee and tea products.
"These markets are large and tend to be fragmented, and additional access to beverage manufacturers should allow us to potentially get a greater share of the value we created with S9632. We appreciate that PepsiCo has consented to this amendment to our collaborative agreement,” Snyder said.