Benzinga | Jul 21, 2021 07:10AM EDT

Codex DNA Announces Licensing And Supply Deal With TriLink Biotechnologies For CleanCap mRNA Capping Technology

Codex DNA, Inc. (NASDAQ:DNAY), a pioneer in automated benchtop synthetic biology systems, today announced a licensing and supply agreement with TriLink Biotechnologies, part of Maravai LifeSciences (NASDAQ:MRVI), for its industry-leading CleanCap(r) technology. Codex DNA will integrate the mRNA capping technology into its suite of automated mRNA synthesis kits for the BioXp(tm) system as well as within the company's BioFoundry Services offering. Together, the technologies are expected to increase productivity and yields for mRNA synthesis workflows, potentially opening the doors for a broader range of downstream therapeutic and vaccine applications.

Therapeutics and vaccines have become increasingly dependent on mRNA. However, the manual, multi-step process required to build mRNA is tedious and often fraught with technical difficulties and bottlenecks that require long turnaround times.

Codex DNA's new BioXp small-scale mRNA synthesis kit with CleanCap reagents is expected to overcome many of these challenges by increasing the yields and productivity of synthetically designed mRNA products. Customers will now have the option to generate up to 16 biologically active mRNA constructs at a yield of at least 10 micrograms each from fully de novo synthesized and error-corrected genes in a single automated run. These combined technologies increase the fraction of translationally active mRNA during transcription, which simplifies and shortens the mRNA manufacturing process and results in higher levels of protein production.

"We are passionate about improving the quality and output of mRNA synthesis workflow, and excited to collaborate with the synthesis pioneers at Codex DNA to bring CleanCap technology to a broader audience," said Jeff Whitmore, Vice President Commercial Operations at TriLink Biotechnologies. "We believe our combined technologies will help users move therapeutic candidates more quickly from preclinical to clinical production stages."

"The TriLink CleanCap technology is the current industry standard for capping mRNA and this collaboration enables us to expand the range of applications for our award-winning BioXp system," said Todd R. Nelson, PhD, CEO of Codex DNA. "Our customers will be able to take advantage of significant time and cost savings during the design-build-test phases for identifying mRNA-based vaccine and therapeutic candidates."