REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDXS), a leading enzyme engineering company, today announced the Company will participate in a presentation and panel discussion at the upcoming RNA Leaders annual meeting, being held September 4-5, 2024, in San Diego, CA. The Company’s presentations will focus on the use of enzymes to drive the scalable and cost-effective manufacture of short inhibitory ribonucleic acid (siRNA) duplexes.

During a keynote panel presentation, Stefan Lutz, PhD, Codexis Senior Vice President of Research, in addition to other RNA industry leaders, will discuss how the biopharmaceutical industry is developing new solutions to advance RNA manufacturing, address production capacities and establish new approaches to streamline clinical trials and standardize protocols.

The Company’s second presentation will focus on ligation, which enables the joining of siRNA fragments to generate full-length siRNA duplexes. This approach reduces the overall costs of siRNA manufacturing by leveraging the inherent benefits of short fragment synthesis, including higher yield and increased purity. Codexis recently launched its double-stranded RNA ligase screening and optimization services, and the Company’s presentation will demonstrate improvements across key ligase attributes critical for siRNA manufacturing utilizing its Enzyme Catalyzed Oligonucleotide (ECO) Synthesis™ manufacturing platform. These include high catalytic activity at high substrate loading, as well as improved performance on challenging sequences and modification near ligation junctions. Additionally, improvements in manufacturability of double-stranded RNA ligases are expected to result in a more reliable and scalable enzyme supply.

Attendees of the conference may visit with the Codexis team at Booth #9 in the exhibition hall. Appointments may be made in advance by clicking here.

Presentation Details

Keynote Panel: Scaling RNA Therapies to Deliver on the Promise of Precision Medicine
Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Time: 10:15 – 10:55 am Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Location: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
Codexis Speaker: Stefan Lutz, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research

Presentation Title: Cost-effective Manufacturing of siRNA Duplexes at High Yield and Purity Using Engineered Double-stranded RNA Ligases
Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Time: 11:45 am – 12:10 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Location: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
Codexis Speaker: Mathew Miller, PhD, Director, Life Science & RNA Technology

About RNAi Therapeutics Manufacturing

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) as a therapeutic modality has gained tremendous traction in recent years with the growing number of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and small interfering RNA (siRNA) candidates advancing in clinical studies. However, large-scale production of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics using traditional chemical synthesis faces complex challenges in nucleic acid quality and quantity, as well as overall economics. With over 450 RNAi therapies currently in clinical development, including more than 40 assets in Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials targeting disease indications impacting millions of patients, RNAi therapeutic demand is projected to outpace current production capabilities by the end of the decade.

About the ECO Synthesis™ Manufacturing Platform

Codexis’ proprietary Enzyme Catalyzed Oligonucleotide (ECO) Synthesis™ manufacturing platform is being designed to address these scalability and cost limitations by potentially enabling the commercial-scale manufacture of RNAi therapeutics through an enzymatic route. The Company presented groundbreaking data at the TIDES USA 2024 annual meeting demonstrating the enzymatic synthesis of a full-length sense strand of the oligonucleotide lumasiran, a commercially available siRNA therapeutic, as well as shorter sense strand fragments of a second siRNA therapeutic asset, givosiran. The data demonstrate that Codexis consistently achieved coupling efficiency greater than 98%, which is equivalent to what is seen with phosphoramidite chemistry; executed the enzymatic addition of a conjugation moiety to the lumasiran strand; and confirmed the lack of notable impurities typically observed in oligonucleotide synthesis via phosphoramidite chemistry. A recording of the presentation, along with slides and the data press release, can be found on the Codexis corporate website.

About Codexis

Codexis is a leading enzyme engineering company leveraging its proprietary CodeEvolver^® technology platform to discover, develop and enhance novel, high-performance enzymes and other classes of proteins. Codexis enzymes solve for real-world challenges associated with small molecule pharmaceuticals manufacturing and nucleic acid synthesis. The Company is currently developing its proprietary ECO Synthesis™ manufacturing platform to enable the scaled manufacture of RNAi therapeutics through an enzymatic route. Codexis’ unique enzymes can drive improvements such as higher yields, reduced energy usage and waste generation, improved efficiency in manufacturing and greater sensitivity in genomic and diagnostic applications. For more information, visit https://www.codexis.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “design,” “due,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “suggest,” “target,” “on track,” “will,” “would” and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management, including, but not limited to, the ability of an enzymatic oligonucleotide synthesis process to complement or replace traditional chemical synthesis; the potential of the Company’s ECO Synthesis™ platform and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) ligase screening and optimization services to create value for Codexis and its customers by enabling commercial-scale manufacture of RNAi therapeutics; other anticipated technical and commercial milestones related to the ECO Synthesis™ platform and the dsRNA ligase program, and public announcements related thereto; potential details and features of the ECO Synthesis™ platform such as it being scalable and able to reduce manufacturing costs, as well as having higher purity and yield than existing methods; and the future demand for RNAi therapeutics. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond Codexis’ control and that could materially affect actual results. Factors that could materially affect actual results include, among others: Codexis’ dependence on its licensees and collaborators; if any of its collaborators terminate their development programs under their respective license agreements with Codexis; Codexis may need additional capital in the future in order to expand its business; if Codexis is unable to successfully develop new technology such as its ECO Synthesis™ manufacturing platform and dsRNA ligase; Codexis’ dependence on a limited number of products and customers, and potential adverse effects to Codexis’ business if its customers’ products are not received well in the markets; whether the end markets for Codexis’ customers’ products develop and remain viable; if Codexis is unable to develop and commercialize new products for its target markets; whether the end markets for Codexis’ customers’ products develop and remain viable; if competitors and potential competitors who have greater resources and experience than Codexis develop products and technologies that make Codexis’ products and technologies obsolete; Codexis’ ability to comply with debt covenants under its loan facility; if Codexis is unable to accurately forecast financial and operational performance; and market and economic conditions may negatively impact Codexis business, financial condition and share price. Additional information about factors that could materially affect actual results can be found in Codexis’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 28, 2024 and in Codexis’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 filed with the SEC on August 8, 2024, including under the caption “Risk Factors,” and in Codexis’ other periodic reports filed with the SEC. Codexis expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

For More Information

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