Protein engineering company Codexis (Redwood City, California) and Alphazyme (Jupiter, Florida), a nucleic acid metabolizing enzyme development startup, have partnered to offer novel enzymes to life science and diagnostics markets.
The agreement covers the launch of three enzymes to prospective customers over the second and third quarters of 2020. The first enzyme is a high-fidelity DNA polymerase, following up on Codexis’ previously announced high performance DNA ligase, which was exclusively licensed to Roche in late 2019. The Codexis-developed DNA polymerase has been engineered to deliver high fidelity and uniformity of coverage, providing an accurate and representative DNA diagnostic result. The second enzyme is an evolved T7 RNA polymerase for the efficient manufacture and capping of messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines. The third enzyme is a reverse transcriptase, a critical component in RNA-directed, point-of-care viral diagnostics. Both the T7 RNA polymerase and the reverse transcriptase enzymes are expected to address needs associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
This new collaboration will leverage the experience and industry knowledge of the Alphazyme team to accelerate the market introduction of Codexis’ portfolio of life science and diagnostic enzymes, while providing Alphazyme exclusive manufacturing and co-marketing rights to certain CodeEvolver?-improved enzymes. This partnership will jointly promote and sell these enzymes to innovators in life science and diagnostic markets.
