REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Codexis, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, today announced it has raised $37 million in a Series D financing. The financing was lead by Bio*One Capital Pte Ltd of Singapore. Existing investors CMEA Ventures, Pequot Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and Maxygen, Inc. also participated in the financing. To date, Codexis has raised $72 million. The company anticipates placing an additional $3 million of Series D in the next 60 days.
Codexis will use the proceeds from the offering to expand its research and development capabilities, furthering the company’s strategy of developing its own products for direct sale to the generic pharmaceutical industry. Specifically, additional funding will enable the company to expand its portfolio of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the key elements in every drug formulation. To date, the company has focused on improving customers’ development capabilities through the application of its Molecular Breeding(TM) technology, rather than developing bulk product for generic manufacturing.
In connection with the financing, Daniel I. C. Wang, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical Engineering, Dept. of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will join the Codexis Board of Directors. Dr. Wang is also Temasek Professor, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. He is a visiting professor at major universities in China, Singapore and Hong Kong, has co-authored five textbooks in biotechnology, and authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles. He serves on the editorial or advisory boards of more than a dozen scientific publications, and is the recipient of numerous prestigious scientific awards in the United States and Asia. He replaces Lawrence W. Briscoe, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Maxygen. The Board will remain at six members.
Codexis also announced that it will establish a research and development center in Singapore, scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2007. The R&D center will focus on new product development for the company’s API and generics business. When fully staffed, the center is expected to house up to 80 R&D and operations personnel. This will be Codexis’ second international location, in addition to the company’s chemical enzyme and intermediates manufacturing facility in Julich, Germany.
“Completion of this financing and the launch of the Singapore initiative will enable Codexis to accelerate significantly the company’s strategic evolution, building the API and generics business while further pursuing biocatalyst engineering partnerships with leading companies worldwide,” said Alan Shaw, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer.
“In our growing API and generics business, we believe that Codexis will greatly benefit from an operation in Singapore, with close proximity to our large and growing customer base in Asia,” Dr. Shaw added. “Singapore offers us a committed, highly skilled workforce, a respect for intellectual property and an environment that specifically fosters innovation that will be important as we expand. We look forward to working with the Singapore research community in the next phase of our growth.”
“Bio*One Capital is pleased to lead this round of financing and play a significant role in the growth strategy of Codexis,” said Ms. Swee-Yeok Chu, CEO of Bio*One Capital. “The biocatalyst R&D center, the first of such facility in Singapore, will allow Codexis to capitalize on the growing customer base of drug active ingredient manufacturers in Singapore and the region. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Codexis as it expands its presence and markets in Asia.”
Generic API Opportunity
The generics business now accounts for a roughly $60 billion market, having grown 115% since 1998 alone. Codexis now has three agreements in this important sector, including relationships with major generics pharmaceuticals manufacturers in India, an industry center. The company expects to continue to expand its presence in this area with an increasing network of manufacturing partners, industry alliances and resources devoted to generic API research and development.
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.
Codexis is a registered trademark and Molecular Breeding is a trademark of Codexis, Inc. For more information see www.codexis.com.
About Bio*One Capital Pte Ltd
Bio*One Capital is a leading, dedicated biomedical sciences investment management company in Asia with a worldwide presence. With funds of over US$600 million, investments are focused on promising and innovative global biomedical companies where Bio*One Capital can play a value adding role in bridging and supporting companies’ growth strategies in Asia through their operations in Singapore. A part of the Singapore Economic Development Board, Bio*One Capital oversees a portfolio of over 60 companies in US, Europe, Singapore and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.bio1capital.com
Contact: Codexis, Inc. Lyn Christenson Corporate Communications 650-298-5368 lyn.christenson@codexis.com
Media: Justin Jackson jjackson@burnsmc.com Tricia Morsch tmorsch@burnsmc.com Burns McClellan 212-213-0006
Bio*One Capital Pte Ltd Sheo S. Rai Marketing Communications +65 6395 7784 sheo_shanker_rai@bmsg.gov.sg
Source: Codexis, Inc.
