Codexis Expands Alliances in Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, A Growing 58 Billion Worldwide Market
Codexis' Proprietary MolecularBreeding(TM) Technology Produces Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) at Lower Cost and With Fewer Byproducts and ImpuritiesRedwood City, CA - October 12, 2005
Codexis, a privately held biotechnology company, today announced that it has expanded its collaborative programs with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers, signing agreements with Arch Pharmalabs Ltd. (Arch), a leading Indian generic pharmaceutical company, and with India's Matrix Laboratories Limited (Matrix), a leading provider of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to the global pharmaceutical industry. With Arch, Codexis will apply its novel, cost-effective MolecularBreeding(TM) technology to manufacture an undisclosed pharmaceutical compound. Codexis has also signed its second agreement with Matrix to develop and commercialize a novel process for the manufacture of a major undisclosed pharmaceutical product.
Alan Shaw, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Codexis, commented, "The generics business now accounts for a roughly $60 billion market, having grown 115% since 1998 alone. We believe that it is essential for Codexis to continue to expand its presence in this area, and we are pleased to extend our program with Matrix and to add Arch to our network of manufacturing partners. In addition to the six agreements we now have in the important generics sector, we anticipate signing at least one to two additional deals within the next six to twelve months. Further, we expect that by 2008 our relationships with generics manufacturers could generate 40% or more of revenues for Codexis."
Under the terms of the new agreement with Matrix, Codexis will employ its proprietary MolecularBreeding(TM) molecular evolution technology platform to develop a novel synthetic process for the Matrix product using a Codexis ThoroughBred(TM) biocatalyst. The process will be transferred to Matrix for final scale-up and manufacturing, and Matrix will receive exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights to the novel process being developed. Codexis will receive research and development funding, milestone payments and ongoing commercial payments on sales of the product. Additional financial terms were not disclosed.
Under terms of the agreement with Arch, Codexis has granted to Arch a non-exclusive license to the Codexis proprietary biocatalytic system and will transfer the process to Arch in exchange for upfront and milestone payments. Codexis will supply Arch with the ThoroughBred(TM) catalyst, and Arch will manufacture the pharmaceutical intermediate. Codexis will directly market and sell the intermediate to the generic pharmaceutical industry. Additional financial terms were not disclosed.
Technology Background
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.The company's unique MolecularBreeding(TM) 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' 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.
About Codexis, Inc.
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 12 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.Codexis is a trademark of Codexis, Inc.
Contact:Codexis, Inc.
Tassos Gianakakos
Sr. Vice President, Business Development
T. +1-650-298-5423
F. +1-650-298-5449
tassos.gianakakos@codexis.com