ChemGen Corp. was founded in 1985 with the aim of exploring the industrial and agricultural applications of biotechnology. This differentiates ChemGen from most other biotechnology companies which are focused on human pharmaceutical applications.

ChemGen's headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland

The company was established by a group of talented research scientists and engineers with strong technical and analytical skills. The objective of this founding group was to identify and develop a line of bio-products which ChemGen could commercialize and that would form the basis of the company's long-term success.

By late 1986, ChemGen had opened up a laboratory in the vicinity of Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A. and had developed a thriving contract research business. Biotechnology R&D services were made available to large U.S., European and Japanese chemical and pharmaceutical companies. This work provided ChemGen personnel with exposure to many areas of industrial and agricultural biotechnology; the company's skills in the isolation of new microbial entities, biosynthesis pathway engineering and fermentation manufacturing blossomed. Several commercially important proprietary and patented bioprocesses were developed by ChemGen for its contract research clients.

In the early 1990's, ChemGen turned its focus to the industrial enzymes marketplace and in particular, to the discovery and commercialization of novel enzymes for animal feed. Its most popular product, Hemicell^® Feed Enzyme was developed at that time and is the first patented feed enzyme. The company pioneered the development of post-pelleting application techniques for the addition of small-volume liquid ingredients to animal feed; this enabled the feed manufacturing industry to efficiently utilize this new heat-labile category of products. ChemGen was the first to provide the industry with an assay service to ensure that the recommended amount of enzyme product was being applied to the feed.

In 2004, ChemGen divested itself of its remaining non-enzyme intellectual properties and activities, and focused solely on the area of feed enzymes. Today, the company's mission is to discover and commercially provide novel feed enzymes. Several exciting new feed enzyme opportunities have been identified and their development is underway. ChemGen is confident that these new products will address key requirements and challenges encountered by the feed industry.