The expanded agreement covers five years of research collaboration. In addition Shell made an equity investment in Codexis as part of a larger financing. This financing reduces Maxygen’s ownership in Codexis to approximately 25% of Codexis’s outstanding shares.
Russell Howard, CEO of Maxygen, said: We are pleased with the continuing success and increasing value of Codexis’s business. Leveraging Maxygen’s MolecularBreeding technology outside the pharmaceutical industry has provided us with a good source of non-dilutive financing to help drive our protein therapeutic business.
Maxygen established Codexis in 2003 as a spin-out company, and granted to Codexis exclusive licenses to use its MolecularBreeding platform for certain chemical applications. Maxygen expanded the scope of exclusive licenses previously granted to include certain applications relating to energy, including biofuels.
