Press Releases

We lead the synthetic biology industry, having developed and successfully commercialized the most Lab-to-Market™ ingredients. Our sustainable ingredients are used in thousands of top global brands, including our own family of consumer brands in Clean Beauty and Health markets.

Amyris to Launch Biopharma Platform

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS) announced today it plans to launch its µPharm™ (microPharm) Discovery and Production Platform. Amyris's µPharm platform provides the pharmaceutical industry with an integrated discovery and production process for therapeutic compounds for which a natural source is scarce or unavailable, or for which chemical synthesis is not cost-effective.

Building on Amyris's previous success in creation of a strain for the cost-effective production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid and its low cost industrial synthetic biology platform, Amyris's µPharm platform will add the novel ability to generate chemical diversity relevant to therapeutic target identification.

"With the µPharm platform, we intend to add leading pharmaceutical partners to the extensive list of world leading companies with whom we have been collaborating. We believe the µPharm platform gives us an exciting opportunity to make an even greater positive impact on the world and drive additional growth for our company," said John Melo, President & CEO of Amyris, Inc.

The µPharm™ platform is founded on Amyris's proprietary, industry-leading technologies for microbial strain engineering, including: (1) a set of automated multiplex genome editing tools for high-efficiency installation and optimization of biosynthetic pathways; (2) high-throughput screening capabilities for the identification of strains producing compounds of interest and development of strains that produce such compounds at commercially-relevant levels; and (3) proven industrial-scale fermentation and recovery infrastructure for reliable, predictable manufacturing of compounds from renewable feedstock.

"This transformative technology will provide a powerful tool for the identification of new drug candidates and allow a fast path for candidate synthesis for further validation and commercialization," said Dr. Joel Cherry, President of Research and Development.

Amyris's best-in-class renewable specialty chemicals are produced from plant sugars, and include compounds for consumer care, performance materials, fuels and lubricants derived from a class of molecules called isoprenoids. Isoprenoids are a diverse family of structurally complex chemicals found in nature, and include molecules with a range of pharmacological properties, including antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities.

The µPharm™ platform builds upon Amyris's foundational expertise in producing isoprenoids to enable both the discovery and industrial production of a wire range of molecules of interest for the pharmaceutical industry.

"Biopharma builds on Amyris's performance track record in collaborations and the strong support of our partners and leading shareholders including Total. Our collaboration business model delivers cash today and revenue growth in the future thanks to our robust product pipeline and proven low-cost manufacturing capabilities. We are planning for one or two new collaborations in Biopharma this year. We continue to expect our personal care business to double in revenue this year, our industrial materials to deliver strong growth from the introduction of our innovative No Compromise® Myralene™ solvent products, and our current collaboration partners to continue expanding as our technology continues to exceed their expectations," added Melo.

About Amyris, Inc.

Amyris is a global renewable products company providing sustainable alternatives to a variety of non-renewable resources. Amyris uses its innovative bioscience technology to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules. Amyris creates ingredients and is commercializing its No Compromise® products in the flavors and fragrances, cosmetics, specialty fluids, polymers, lubricants, and fuels industries. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris's production in Brazil. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com.

Amyris Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as use of a technology platform to discover and produce pharmaceutical compounds and the benefits of such platform, expectations for sales growth and product introductions and success of commercialization efforts, growth of Amyris and its business, and addition of pharmaceutical collaborations) that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including those associated with any delays or failures in development, regulatory approvals, production and commercialization of products, liquidity and ability to fund capital expenditures, Amyris's reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on November 7, 2014. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Amyris, the Amyris logo, µPharm, Myralene, and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


 
Contact Us

For media inquiries, please contact: info@amyris.com
For investor inquiries, please contact: investor@amyris.com