Codexis Inc
We discover, develop and sell proteins that deliver value to our clients in
a growing set of industries. We view proteins as a vast untapped source of value-creating
materials, and we are using our proven technologies, which have been continuously
improved over our fifteen year history, to commercialize an increasing number
of novel proteins, both as proprietary Codexis products and in partnership with
our customers.
Many companies have historically used naturally occurring proteins to produce
or enhance goods used in everyday life. Despite the growing number of commercial
applications of naturally occurring proteins across many industries, the inherent
limitations of naturally-occurring proteins frequently restrict their commercial
use. Through the application of our proprietary CodeEvolver® protein engineering
technology platform, we are able to engineer novel proteins to overcome these
restrictions, thereby adding value or opening up new prospects for our potential
clients’ products, processes or businesses. We have developed new proteins
that are significantly more stable and/or active in our commercial applications
than proteins derived from nature.
We are a pioneer in the harnessing of computational technologies to drive biology
advancements. Over the last fifteen years, we have made substantial investments
in the development of our CodeEvolver® protein engineering technology platform,
the primary source of our competitive advantage. Our technology platform is
powered by proprietary, artificial intelligence-based, computational algorithms
that rapidly mine our large and continuously growing library of protein variants’
performance attributes. These computational outputs enable increasingly reliable
predictions for next generation protein variants to be engineered, enabling
delivery of targeted performance enhancements in a time-efficient manner. In
addition to its computational prowess, our CodeEvolver® protein engineering
technology platform integrates additional modular competencies, including robotic
high-throughput screening and genomic sequencing, organic chemistry and process
development which are all coordinated to create our novel protein innovations.
Our strategy is to grow our revenues, profits, and stockholder value by leveraging
our CodeEvolver® protein engineering technology platform in the following
ways:
Licensing our CodeEvolver® protein engineering technology platform. We intend
to continue to pursue opportunities to license our CodeEvolver® protein
engineering technology platform to third parties so they can create cost-saving
protein catalyst solutions utilizing their own in-house protein engineering
capability.
Growing our pharmaceutical protein catalysts business. We intend to continue
to pursue opportunities in the pharmaceutical market to use our protein catalysis
products and services to reduce the costs for manufacturing small molecule drugs.
We intend to increase the number of pharmaceutical customers and processes that
utilize and benefit from our novel, cost-saving protein catalyst solutions.
Growing our fine chemicals protein catalysts business. We intend to continue
to pursue opportunities in the fine chemicals market to use protein catalysis
products and services to reduce the costs for manufacturing in adjacent markets
like food and food ingredients. We intend to increase the number of fine chemical
customers and processes who utilize and benefit from our novel, cost-saving
protein catalyst solutions.
Creating and advancing novel biotherapeutic drug candidates. We intend to continue
to pursue opportunities to apply our protein engineering capabilities to the
creation and development of novel biotherapeutic drug candidates, both in partnership
with customers and as proprietary Codexis drug candidates. We intend to continue
to advance our own novel enzyme biotherapeutic candidate for the potential treatment
of phenylketonuria ("PKU") disease. We have also invested in research
and development in an effort to generate additional early stage novel biotherapeutic
candidates.
Developing high-performance enzymes for use in diagnostic applications. We intend
to offer high-performance enzymes to customers using next generation sequencing
(“NGS”) and polymerase chain reaction (“PCR/qPCR”) for
in vitro molecular diagnosis applications.
Our pharmaceutical customers, which include a majority of the largest global
pharmaceutical companies, use our technology, products and services in their
manufacturing processes and process development. Our CodeEvolver® protein
engineering technology platform enables us to deliver solutions to our customers
in this market by developing and delivering optimized protein catalysts that
perform chemical transformations at a lower cost and improve the efficiency
and productivity of manufacturing processes. We provide value throughout the
pharmaceutical product lifecycle. Our products and services allow us to provide
benefits to our pharmaceutical customers in a number of cost saving ways, including
any - and sometimes all - of the following:
reducing the use of raw materials and reagents;
eliminating multiple steps in the manufacturing process;
improving purity, productivity and yield;
using water as a primary solvent;
eliminating hazardous inputs;
enabling the use of simple equipment and reducing the need for capital
expenditure;
reducing energy requirements;
reducing the generation of chemical byproducts or waste; and
reducing the need for late-stage purifications.
Early in a pharmaceutical product’s lifecycle, pharmaceutical manufacturers
can use our protein catalyst products and services to reduce manufacturing costs.
If an innovator incorporates our products or processes into an approved product,
we expect the innovator to continue to use our products or processes at least
over the patent life of the marketed drug.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers can also use our products and services to reduce
manufacturing costs after a product is launched. At this stage, changes in the
manufacturing process originally approved by the drug regulator may require
additional regulatory review. Typically, pharmaceutical companies will only
seek regulatory approval for a manufacturing change if substantial cost savings
are realizable. We believe that the cost savings associated with our products
may lead our customers to change their manufacturing processes for approved
products and, if necessary, seek regulatory approval of the new processes which
incorporate our proteins. Moreover, we believe these cost savings are attractive
to generics manufacturers, who compete primarily on price.
In addition, manufacturing processes that utilize our protein catalysts can
frequently enable processes that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly
compared to alternative, traditional manufacturing approaches. This has led
Codexis to earn three US EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards for
improved pharmaceutical manufacturing processes over the last eleven years.
All three of these awards were associated with blockbuster drug products.