Amyris Enters Partnership with Biogen to Develop Alternative Cell Lines Supporting Production of Therapeutics

Amyris has entered into a funded partnership with Biogen. The collaboration will explore the use of Amyris’s advanced microbe engineering technology to evaluate and develop multiple host microorganisms as alternatives to mammalian cell lines for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins.

“We are pleased to have signed our second major partnership in the biopharma market and we believe with Biogen, the biopharma market is now well positioned to become our largest opportunity for collaborations,” said Cynthia Bryant, Amyris Senior Vice President Corporate Development & Collaborations.

For many recombinant protein therapeutics, mammalian cell lines are engineered to produce the needed protein using a fermentation process. While tremendous progress has been made in increasing productivity, limitations remain.

“Over the course of the partnership, Amyris will utilize its leading strain engineering and screening technology to evaluate the tractability of each selected species as a new potential cell line for recombinant protein production,” explained Joel Cherry, Amyris’s President, Research and Development. “Selected candidates from the initial work will go into a second phase of development to create commercially robust cell lines for use in drug manufacturing.”