Helping Make Research Possible

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cayman Chemical Company supplies scientists worldwide with the resources necessary for advancing human and animal health. We manufacture high quality biochemicals, assay kits, antibodies, and recombinant proteins and offer contract services for custom chemical synthesis/analysis, assay development/screening, and drug discovery.

Our mission is to help make research possible. That starts by employing a talented and highly qualified group of experts to develop the tools to support research scientists across academic, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical institutions. Our scientists are experts in the synthesis, purification, and characterization of a wide-range of biochemicals. We are highly skilled in all aspects of assay and antibody development and are fully accomplished at protein expression, crystallization, and structure determination.

History

Incorporated on June 6, 1980, Cayman Chemical Company was born from the goal of our founder and CEO Dr. Kirk Maxey to demonstrate the value of naturally growing gorgonian corals as a renewable, economically viable source of prostaglandins. Careful environmental studies and negotiations with the Grand Cayman government culminated in August of 1981 when an eight-pound sample of the gorgonian Plexaura homomalla was collected near Fisherman's Cay. The coral was frozen and transported to a small lab in Denver where 30 grams of Prostaglandin A2 were extracted. Inspired by this success and the vision of providing affordable, high-quality prostaglandins to the research community, Dr. Maxey’s nascent laboratory offered five prostaglandin standards. In November of 1981, Cayman Chemical closed its very first sale! After several years of growth in Denver, headquarters were relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan where Cayman’s first complete synthetic chemistry laboratory was established.

Today

Since our founding, we have been developing a vast catalog of products to meet the needs of our customers. We have grown our capabilities to include active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, forensic analytical standard production, contract research service expertise, pre-clinical drug development, research grant support, and community outreach. Through all these endeavors, we remain committed to our origins and our founding vision: to provide affordable, high-quality products and to serve the research community.

Statistics

Founded

1980 by Kirk Maxey, M.D.

Headquarters

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Subsidiaries

Cayman Pharma, Czech Republic
Cayman Europe, Estonia

Facilities

280,000 ft2

Accreditations

ISO/IEC 17025:2017
ISO 17034:2016

Number of Products

29,030

Employees

400+ worldwide

On-site Scientists

150+

Distribution

100+ countriesIntellectual PropertyPatents for the complex synthesis of small molecules, assay technologies, and the commercial manufacture of eicosanoids as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)

Catalog Products

Cayman creates and supplies small molecules, biochemicals, assay kits, antibodies, and proteins to scientists around the world. We produce reagents of exceptional quality for cancer, oxidative injury, epigenetics, neuroscience, inflammation, metabolism, and many additional lines of research.

Worldwide distribution of our products is coordinated through Cayman Europe in Tallinn, Estonia for our European distribution network and through numerous independent distribution companies.

Contract Research Services

Cayman recognizes the value built through investing in technology and in our dedicated research scientists to produce our catalog products. We offer that level of expertise to pre-clinical researchers through our contract research services in Chemical Synthesis, Chemical Analysis, Bioanalysis, and Medicinal Chemistry. We offer comprehensive solutions to drive your projects to completion, delivering prompt quotations, competitive prices, quality science, and personalized customer service.

Drug Discovery Programs

Cayman’s medicinal chemistry division has pre-clinical drug discovery efforts underway in the areas of bone restoration and repair, muscular dystrophy, oncology, and inflammation. This includes proprietary compound development, in vitro testing, and IP protection activities. Opportunities are available for partners to advance these programs through the development and regulatory pipeline toward approval and commercialization.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

Our organic, process, and analytical chemists specialize in the rapid development of manufacturing processes and analytical methods to carry out clinical and commercial GMP-API production. Cayman Pharma in Neratovice (just outside of Prague in the Czech Republic) specializes in the commercial production of prostaglandin Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for generic drug formulators. Cayman Pharma has ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications.

Forensic Science Division

Cayman is a leader in the field of emerging drugs of abuse, providing high-purity Schedule I-V Controlled Substances to federally licensed laboratories and qualified academic research institutions for forensic analyses. We are certified by ANAB Accreditation Services with dual accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 17034:2016, providing a range of analytical standards, including synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, phenethylamines, amphetamines, indanes, opioids, benzodiazepines, tryptamines, and phytocannabinoids, among many others.

Support for the Research Community

Cayman’s commitment to the research community comes in part by supporting young scientists. We offer grants and resources to help alleviate the burden of cost for traveling to conferences and printing theses. We are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of scientists who have made us a part of their work by promoting their publications and posters.

CABRI

Cayman Biomedical Research Institute (CABRI) is a nonprofit organization which supports research on the rare illnesses and orphan diseases that are often neglected by the corporate pharmaceutical industry and actively pursues new developments that will treat these diseases. To support this endeavor, we offer research grants to specific principal investigators at academic research institutions who have a plan to extend the clinical or pre-clinical development for these diseases, undergraduate grants to assist students to obtain experience in laboratories while performing research that aligns with CABRI’s mission, and CABRI provides scholarships to college-bound students who have lost a parent to SNUC.