Development of a large-scale continuous substrate feed process for the biotransformation of simvastatin by Nocardia s.p

This article describes a process for microbial hydroxylation of simvastatin by a Nocardia sp. Simvastatin (Zocor) belongs to the family of HMGCoA reductase inhibitors used as cholesterol-lowering drugs. Studies at 14 L scale showed that high substrate (simvastatin) concentrations inhibited product formation; consequently, continuous slow feeding of the substrate was introduced to maintain low residual simvastatin concentrations. Dissolved oxygen levels above 50% air saturation were desirable for the biotransformation. The process was scaled up to 19,000-L fermentors using an on-line filter sterilization system for substrate feeding. The feed rate was regulated by off-line high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) assays to keep the substrate concentration below 20 mg/L. Intermittent addition of nutrients helped to boost the bioconversion rate to give final titers of 400 mg/L 6-beta-hydroxymethyl simvastatin. Enrichment of the nutrient medium led to bioconversion titers of 800 mg/L 6-beta-hydroxymethyl simvastatin. Bioconversion efficiencies (desired product/substrate) of 22-25% with a ratio of desired product/side products of 0.7 were obtained by this process.