Protein engineering company Codexis has entered into a research and development agreement with a leading global biopharmaceutical company
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This is the first significant agreement in which Codexis will apply its proprietary CodeEvolver protein engineering platform technology with a company in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Under the terms of the agreement, Codexis will employ CodeEvolver to develop a novel enzyme for use in its partner’s preclinical therapeutic development programme. Development of the new enzyme will occur in two stages. The first stage is a proof-of-concept study that is expected to be completed in approximately six months. Pending the partner’s election to proceed, the second stage is an enzyme evolution programme that is expected to take six to 12 months.
Under terms of the agreement, Codexis has received a $1 million upfront payment. Additionally, Codexis expects to generate research and development service revenues relating to the stages of the programme’s enzyme development. Codexis could also receive additional payments following completion of the two development stages depending on the programme’s success and the partner’s election to use the developed enzyme.
“We are excited to add this leading biopharmaceutical company to our growing list of customers and to have the opportunity to further demonstrate CodeEvolver’s utility in therapeutics development, even at the preclinical stage,” said Codexis president and chief executive officer John Nicols. “We hope the collaboration will lead to additional protein engineering projects with this new partner, as well as other companies focused in the biopharmaceuticals industry.”