BMS and UT San Antonio win $615k government grant to develop green pharma manufacturing processes

The National Science Foundation has awarded $615,000 to the laboratory of chemist Doug Frantz, Ph.D., at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), for a partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb that seeks to make pharma manufacturing more environmentally friendly.

The award is part of the agency’s Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program, according to an Oct. 28 release. The grant will fund the partners' research through 2027.

Green chemistry is the effort to design chemical processes that reduce the amount of energy used and waste generated. In this project, Frantz’s lab and BMS scientists will work to identify new catalysts that can control chemical reactivity in compounds relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, UTSA said in the release.

The Big Pharma will use its ability to run thousands of chemical reactions per week to find new catalysts, which will then be further refined by Frantz’s team, the university said in the release.

Frantz has collaborated with BMS in the past to develop new chemical reaction methods, the release noted. This existing relationship with BMS is what led Frantz to submit a proposal for the GOALI program, he said in the release.

The partnership will also enable Frantz’s students to work with and learn from BMS scientists.

“The GOALI program will enable continuation and expansion of an already successful collaboration with a number of positive benefits for both the organizations and students involved in the research,” Michael Hobbs, BMS vice president of chemical process development, said in the release.