A novel biocatalytic approach for the large-scale production of S-2-ethoxy-3-(4- hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid S-1 from its racemic ethylester rac-2 by enantioselective hydrolysis has been developed. S-1 is an important building block in the synthesis of PPARα and-γ agonists such as Ragaglitazar [NNC 61-0029 ((-) DRF2725)]. The development history comprises enzyme screening, biocatalyst and process optimization, and scale-up ...