REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Codexis, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, today announced it has won a 2006 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Codexis received the award for its technology, Directed Evolution of Three Biocatalysts to Produce the Key Chiral Building Block for Atorvastatin, the Active Ingredient in Lipitor(R). Lipitor is the world's best-selling drug that lowers cholesterol.
Competing against nominations from both large and small companies, Codexis won in the focus category, 'Greener Reaction Conditions.' The award was presented at the National Academy of Sciences by Susan B. Hazen, Acting Assistant Administrator for the EPA's Office for Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, during the tenth Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference.
Codexis' green-by-design HN process increases yield and is more efficient and kinder to the environment, in comparison to older methods which are energy-intensive and involve reaction steps that generate by-products and significantly limit yield.
Advantages of the Codexis HN process include: -- Reduction of waste and byproducts formation and decrease in the use of solvents -- Avoidance of the use of fossil fuel-derived hydrogen gas -- Requires less purification equipment -- Decreased manufacturing costs -- On a biocatalyst basis, enzymes evolved through Codexis' technology have improved the volumetric productivity of one reaction by approximately 100-fold, and that of another reaction by approximately 4000-fold.
"We are greatly honored to receive this recognition for the advances we have made in developing novel biocatalysts to enable green manufacture of pharmaceutical chemicals," said John Grate, Ph.D., Codexis' Senior Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Technology Officer. "We believe our work represents the next wave in environmentally sound pharmaceutical production that can also contribute to lowering the cost of manufacturing life-saving drugs."
The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program provides national recognition of outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use, and that have been or can be utilized by industry in achieving their pollution prevention goals.
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 more than 15 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 (biocatalysts) -- 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 40 to 70 percent and capital expenditures by over 35 percent. In addition, this platform technology can create new intellectual property opportunities, 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 biocatalysts 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 15 strategic alliances, and the company's technology is being applied to the development of more than 20 therapeutic products worldwide. Codexis, Inc. began operations as an independent company in 2002.
Contact: Codexis, Inc. Tassos Gianakakos Sr. Vice President, Business Development T. +1-650-298-5423 F. +1-650-298-5463
Codexis, Inc.CONTACT: Tassos Gianakakos, Sr. Vice President, Business Development ofCodexis, Inc., +1-650-298-5423, or fax, +1-650-298-5463
Web site: http://www.codexis.com//
