Benzinga | Jun 10, 2021 07:04AM EDT

Codexis and Takeda Expand Strategic Collaboration and License Agreement to Discover Additional Gene Therapy for a Fourth Rare Genetic Disorder

Codexis, Inc., a leading enzyme engineering company enabling the promise of synthetic biology, today announced the expansion of its strategic collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company LimitedCodexis, Inc., a leading enzyme engineering company enabling the promise of synthetic biology, today announced the expansion of its strategic collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") for the research and development of an additional gene therapy for a lysosomal storage disorder bringing the total number of programs under the agreement to four.

Under the terms of the original March 2020 agreement, Codexis leveraged its CodeEvolver(r) protein engineering platform to generate novel gene sequences encoding enzyme variants that are tailored to enhance efficacy by increasing activity, stability, and cellular uptake. Takeda is combining these improved transgenes with its gene therapy capabilities to develop novel candidates for the treatment of rare genetic disorders.

"We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with Takeda to advance novel gene therapies for the treatment of rare diseases. Over the past year, our CodeEvolver(r) technology has generated novel genetic sequences that encode more efficacious enzymes for the potential treatment of Fabry and Pompe Diseases, as well as an undisclosed blood factor deficiency. Codexis and Takeda are excited about the prospect for each of these improved sequences to enable differentiated gene therapies for patients with rare genetic diseases," stated John Nicols, Codexis' President and CEO.

Gjalt Huisman, Codexis' Senior Vice-President, Biotherapeutics added, "Within a year of embarking on our collaboration, the Codexis and Takeda research teams have made tremendous progress in generating and evaluating engineered gene sequences for the three separate therapeutic indications. We are proud that based on the results to date Takeda has exercised its option to initiate a fourth program."