Codexis, Inc., a privately held biosciences company, today announced that it has purchased important assets and technologies from Enzis BV.

Among the assets purchased by Codexis is Enzis’ European patent application number EP 01934641, as well as all foreign counterparts, including pending applications in the United States and Japan. The acquisition will broaden Codexis’ enzyme platforms by strengthening its position in the enzymatic conversion of epoxides, including via epoxide hydrolases and halohydrin dehalogenases, which are useful in the production of pharmaceutical agents and intermediates.

The technology acquired from Enzis will be used not only to develop chemical processes in Codexis’ Enzymes and Intermediates business unit but also to create new starting points for Codexis’ proprietary MolecularBreeding™ directed molecular evolution technology, which is used to develop improved manufacturing processes for small molecule therapeutics. Enzis will cease operations and Erik de Vries, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Lutje Spelberg, Ph.D., Enzis’ founders and key scientists, will join Codexis. and Julich Chiral Solutions, respectively. Financial details were not disclosed.

"We are very excited about this addition to our enzyme portfolio, which expands the opportunities for new chemical transformations of important intermediates and pharmaceutical active ingredients" said Dr. Peter Seufer-Wasserthal, Vice President and General Manager of Codexis’ Enzymes and Intermediates business unit. "This acquisition involves important classes of biocatalysts and underpins our strategic goal of increasing our catalyst platforms and expanding our market position."

About Codexis, Inc. and Enzis

Codexis is a privately held biosciences company applying proprietary synthetic chemistry technologies to create improved versions of small molecule therapeutics. Codexis' technology enables novel process development solutions for efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly pharmaceutical manufacturing. Application of the company's proprietary protein and strain engineering platform can also generate new intellectual property opportunities for pharmaceutical manufacturers, which may extend the drug product lifecycle. Codexis has more than 15 strategic alliances, including a major collaboration with Pfizer, and more than 20 products and processes in development internally and at leading worldwide life sciences companies. Codexis, Inc. began operations as an independent company in 2002.

Julich Chiral Solutions, GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Codexis, was acquired in February 2005. It is one of Europe's leading providers of products and services for the biocatalytic production of chiral pharmaceutical intermediates. Through its catalog, http://www.julich.com, Julich offers a wide range of off-the-shelf specialty enzymes and chiral intermediates useful in pharmaceutical development.

Enzis BV is a privately held biosciences company founded in 2003 as a spin-out from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Enzis has historically focused on developing new synthetic routes for pharmaceutical intermediates using enzymes such as epoxide hydrolases, halohydrin dehalogenases and haloalkane dehalogenase and their applications to catalyze chemical processes.

Codexis Technology Background

The Codexis MolecularBreeding™ protein and strain engineering technology platform creates superior biological catalysts -- either enzymes or fermentation strains -- crafted specifically for cutting-edge chemical processes that can enable pharmaceutical process development, shorten process development timelines, dramatically improve existing manufacturing processes and increase chemical development productivity. Codexis estimates that its platform technology can reduce cost of goods by 35% - 65% and capital expenditures by over 25%. In addition, this platform technology can create new patents, which can help extend the lifetime of drug products.

Codexis' partnerships draw upon the company's expertise and track record in applying its proprietary technology to high-value pharmaceutical products to improve their purity profile and reduce manufacturing time, cost and waste. Codexis has over a dozen partnerships with leading worldwide proprietary and generic pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Codexis' platform technology begins with the selection of genes or genomes with DNA sequence diversity. These gene or genomic variants are then subjected to a proprietary technique that recombines, or "shuffles," the DNA. The resulting library encoding for novel enzymes or strains is screened for those possessing desirable and improved properties. This process is repeated several times until the resulting enzymes or strains meet or exceed the target performance.

Codexis is a trademark of Codexis, Inc.

Contact:
Codexis, Inc.
Dr. Peter Seufer-Wasserthal
Vice President and Managing Director
Codexis Enzymes and Intermediates
T. +43-7673-321511
F. +43-7673-32151
peter.seufer@codexis.com

Media:
Tricia Morsch
Burns McClellan
212-213-0006
tmorsch@burnsmc.com