REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and MUMBAI, India, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Codexis, Inc., a privately held biosciences company, and Arch Pharmalabs, Ltd., a leading Indian generic pharmaceutical company, today announced the two companies have achieved an important development milestone under their research and manufacturing agreement. Arch has successfully integrated Codexis’ ThoroughBred(TM) biological catalysts and proprietary biocatalytic system into commercial production of a key intermediate used in the manufacture of a high-value pharmaceutical active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Achievement of the milestone triggers an undisclosed payment to Codexis.
Under terms of the agreement announced in October 2005, Arch will continue to scale-up the manufacturing process and provide commercial quantities of the intermediate for direct marketing and sales by Codexis. Further terms were not announced.
“This achievement marks a significant step in the development of Codexis’ generic API business,” said Alan Shaw, Ph.D., Codexis President and Chief Executive Officer. “This is the first announcement of an internally developed biocatalytic system that has been integrated into commercial production of a generic version of a blockbuster pharmaceutical product. We are pleased with the progress we have made with our partner Arch Pharmalabs and look forward to further advances in our generic API program. Codexis technology is now in use at more than 10 leading pharmaceutical companies to improve product characteristics and create new intellectual property opportunities while significantly reducing manufacturing time and cost.”
“The Codexis technology continues to demonstrate significant competitive advantage for generic pharmaceutical products,” according to Ajit Kamath, Arch’s Chairman and Managing Director. “Together with Arch’s expertise in quality manufacturing, our companies are in a strong position to capitalize on this market opportunity. We look forward to continued success with Codexis.”
Technology Background
Codexis’ partnerships draw upon the company’s expertise and track record in applying its proprietary engineering 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 Arch Pharmalabs
Arch Pharmalabs Ltd., headquartered in Mumbai, is engaged in the production and marketing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Pharmaceutical Intermediates which are produced according to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) guidelines. The company markets to major multinational pharmaceutical companies in the world.
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 15 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 Media: Tricia Morsch Burns McClellan 212-213-0006 tmorsch@burnsmc.com
Codexis, Inc.
CONTACT: Tassos Gianakakos, Sr. Vice President, Business Development ofCodexis, Inc., +1-650-298-5423, or fax, +1-650-298-5449, ortassos.gianakakos@codexis.com; or media, Tricia Morsch of Burns McClellan,+1-212-213-0006, or tmorsch@burnsmc.com, for Codexis
Web site: http://www.codexis.com/
