Benzinga | Oct 22, 2020 08:06AM EDT

Amyris And The Infectious Disease Research Institute Enter Into Exclusive License For Novel RNA Vaccine Platform, Beginning With COVID-19 Vaccine

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amyris, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRS), a leading synthetic biotechnology company in Clean Health and Beauty markets through its consumer brands, and a top supplier of sustainable and natural ingredients, today announced the signing of a Collaboration Agreement and License Agreement with the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) to advance a novel ribonucleic acid (RNA) vaccine platform, including accelerating the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The collaboration will combine IDRI's RNA vaccine platform, including IDRI's proprietary nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) platform, with Amyris's semi-synthetic squalene. This has the potential to offer differentiated advantages over other RNA vaccines, including superior scalability, efficacy, and sustainability.

Amyris will co-own intellectual property developed to create the COVID-19 vaccine, any rights in any combination of IDRI materials and Amyris squalene, the pre-clinical and Phase I clinical trial data, and the Clinical Study Report.

"We believe to have a differentiated vaccine platform that uses a replicating RNA molecule to express viral antigens, formulated and delivered with a nanostructured lipid carrier system that can be stockpiled for use across a variety of infectious diseases and cancers," said Dr. Corey Casper, Chief Executive Officer of IDRI. "We are delighted to be embarking on this critical program with Amyris and believe use of their novel, sustainable, semi-synthetic squalene will prove invaluable in our joint vaccine development efforts."

"We are excited to combine IDRI's expertise in vaccines with our synthetic biology platform to deliver an effective and sustainable vaccine for COVID-19," said John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amyris. "A much needed second generation vaccine will have a fast-follower pharmaceutical advantage and solve expected supply chain and manufacturing bottlenecks. Amyris has a strong research partnership with Universidade Cat?lica Portuguesa. As part of this relationship we have advanced preliminary approval of a grant to fund the program through Phase 1 trials. We anticipate initiating a Phase 1 clinical trial around mid-2021."

Vaccines licensed from IDRI to Amyris are originally intended for COVID-19, plus up to three additional indications, and Amyris will have the right to develop and commercialize each such vaccine for all fields of use and all indications (excluding zika, yellow fever and Epstein-Barr Virus), including pandemic or seasonal influenza, and certain cancer treatments.

The vaccine development collaboration project for COVID-19 is expected to conclude in the first half of 2022.