Enzymes in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry

Enzymes are used today in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry to produce a wide range of products. In this chapter, you will be introduced to product categories like bulk chemicals, fine chemicals, or active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and some areas in which enzymes can offer benefits over existing production processes, like reduction of waste or higher product purity. In addition to these production processes, in which the enzyme acts as a catalyst for a particular reaction, you will learn that in the pharmaceutical industry enzymes are studied as well for their biological functions. These functions may range from being a target of a drug, i.e., an enzyme that should be inhibited, to being involved in the metabolism of a drug to being a drug itself. Overall, you will get to know the historical and present-day applications of enzymes in these two industries, as well as some recent developments like synthetic biology.