Amyris Signs new Nutraceuticals Pact
Following on from an agreement signed in April, US industrial bioscience company Amyris has entered another deal with the same partner to introduce a second nutraceutical product onto the global market. The agreement with the nutraceuticals market leader – whose identity has been kept confidential – also includes a credit line of up to $25 million with a five-year maturity together with an option for a $5-million strategic investment by the partner. Amyris expects to supply the second molecule in 2019.
The additional arrangement represents a significant expansion in expected revenue compared with the earlier deal, Amyris said. Revenue in 2017 for the first targeted product is now expected to be around $40 million, and annual sales from the expanded partnership are anticipated to average more than $70 million beyond 2017.
“This expanded partnership agreement further transitions us to a more broadly diversified portfolio of high-performance, sustainable ingredients to some of the world’s fastest growing markets and a global leader in low-cost, high-performance ingredients for the nutraceuticals market,” commented John Melo, president and CEO of Amyris.
The California company has already started shipping large volumes of farnesene as part of the first supply agreement. The nutraceuticals producer is nearing completion of a dedicated manufacturing facility to convert Amyris’s farnesene and expand production over time. Amyris said its farnesene will give its partner a significant cost advantage for the two products which many people use daily for nutritional benefit. Because of the competitive nature of the market, both companies have agreed not to disclose the name of the two targeted products.
Global demand for nutritional products continues to grow at a much faster pace than GDP, and supplying these products from sustainable sources at a lower cost than currently possible is critical for the world’s increasing population, Amyris said. The expansion of the partnership remains subject to obtaining required approvals.
