Escagenetics Corp. announced Tuesday that it will collaboratewith Genencor International Inc. on scaling up taxol productionvia plant cell tissue culture. Scale-up will occur in Genencor'sRochester, N.Y. production facility. "This collaboration inGenencor's facility will allow Escagenetics to scale up taxolproduction in stages to 30,000-liter vessels," said RaymondMoshy, president and chief executive officer of the San Carlos,Calif., company.

Escagenetics (AMEX:ESN) uses cultured yew tree cells toproduce taxol via a fermentation process which has alsoyielded "new taxanes as well as intermediates such asbaccatin," said Moshy.

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