EMERYVILLE and CULVER CITY, Calif., January 3, 2022 — Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS), a leading synthetic biotechnology company accelerating the world to sustainable consumption through its Lab-to-MarketTM operating platform, and ImmunityBio (Nasdaq: IBRX), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced the completion of a previously announced joint venture agreement to accelerate the commercialization of a leading next-generation COVID-19 vaccine.
Amyris and ImmunityBio combine important vaccine technology and manufacturing capabilities in the joint venture. Upon completion of successful human trials and regulatory approval, the joint venture’s goal is to start delivering the second-generation vaccine in 2022 as soon as is practically possible with a goal of delivering immunity for COVID-19 and access to underserved parts of the world where current vaccine technology is challenged due to cost and supply chain limitations.
“We are pleased to combine our expertise in human trials, T-Cell technology and our access to RNA manufacturing capacity with the Amyris and Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) RNA technology platform and Amyris’ adjuvant technology,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at ImmunityBio. “Combined we have a real opportunity to provide true immunity against COVID-19 variants along with a platform that can quickly adapt to a future potential respiratory virus. We are focused on completing human trials and delivering vaccines in 2022.”
“Combining our RNA technology with ImmunityBio’s expertise and access has the potential to significantly accelerate and de-risk our time to market for a much-needed second generation COVID-19 vaccine,” said John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amyris. “We are very pleased with the progress our teams have made in the short time we’ve been working together and remain focused on completing successful human trials as quickly as possible.”
“Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become abundantly clear that next-generation vaccines will be required to put the pandemic behind us,” said Corey Casper, M.D., MPH and Chief Executive Officer of IDRI. “Vaccines that are accessible to every person across the globe, broad in their protection against current and future variants of concern, and invoke durable protective immunity are now within our reach. The ability to ‘mix and match’ vaccine platforms through this new joint venture and ImmunityBio’s multiple COVID vaccine platforms represents one of the most exciting approaches to ending COVID-19.”
Further announcements will be made when results of human trials are available.
About Amyris
Amyris (Nasdaq: AMRS) is a leading synthetic biotechnology company, transitioning the Clean Health & Beauty and Flavors & Fragrances markets to sustainable ingredients through fermentation and the company’s proprietary Lab-to-MarketTM operating platform. This Amyris platform leverages state-of-the-art machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence, enabling the company to rapidly bring new innovation to market at commercial scale. Amyris ingredients are included in over 20,000 products from the world’s top brands, reaching more than 300 million consumers. Amyris also owns and operates a family of consumer brands that is constantly evolving to meet the growing demand for sustainable, effective and accessible products. For more information, please visit http://www.amyris.com.
Amyris, the Amyris logo and Lab-to-Market are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
About ImmunityBio
ImmunityBio (Nasdaq: IBRX) is a leading late-clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing next-generation therapies that drive immunogenic mechanisms for defeating cancers and infectious diseases. The company’s broad immunotherapy and cell therapy platforms—including Antibody cytokine fusion proteins, synthetic immunomodulators, vaccine technologies (hAd5 viral vector, mRNA, recombinant protein, and adjuvant), and genetically-modified, off-the-shelf natural killer cells (autologous and allogenic cytokine-enhanced memory NK cells)—activate both the innate (natural killer cell and macrophage) and adaptive (T cell) immune systems to create long-term “immunological memory.”
ImmunityBio’s clinical pipeline consists of 21 clinical trials—13 of which are in Phase II or III development—across 12 indications in solid and liquid cancers (including bladder, pancreatic, and lung cancers) and infectious diseases (including SARS-CoV-2 and HIV). Anktiva™, ImmunityBio’s lead cytokine infusion protein, is a novel interleukin-15 (IL-15) superagonist complex and has received Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BCG-unresponsive CIS non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).
The company has established GMP manufacturing capacity at scale with cutting-edge cell manufacturing expertise and ready-to-scale facilities, as well as extensive and seasoned R&D, clinical trial, and regulatory operations, and development teams. For more information, please visit: www.immunitybio.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events, such as the companies’ expectation that the joint venture between Amyris and ImmunityBio will accelerate commercialization of a leading next-generation COVID-19 vaccine; the anticipated timing of completion of human trials for the vaccine candidate and goal of delivering vaccines commencing in 2022 and access to underserved parts of the world; the potential opportunity of providing true immunity against COVID-19 variants with a platform that can quickly adapt to a potential future respiratory virus and of accelerating and de-risking time to market for a second generation COVID-19 vaccine. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including risks related to the companies’ liquidity and ability to fund operating and capital expenses, risks related to their financing activities, risks related to potential delays or failures in completing and integrating planned acquisitions, risks related to potential delays or failures in development, regulatory approval, launch, production and commercialization of products, whether interim, initial, “top-line” and preliminary data from the joint venture’s and/or its members’ preclinical and clinical trials that it announces or publishes from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data, risks related to the companies’ reliance on third parties particularly in the supply chain, and other risks detailed from time to time in filings Amyris and/or ImmunityBio make with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The companies disclaim any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Amyris Investors:
Argot Partners
Jason Finkelstein
amyris@argotpartners.com
+1 (212) 600-1902
Amyris, Inc.
Paul Vincent
vincent@amyris.com
+1 (510) 450-0761
Amyris Media:
Amyris, Inc.
Beth Bannerman
bannerman@amyris.com
+1 (510) 914-0022
ImmunityBio Investors:
Sarah Singleton
ImmunityBio, Inc.
844-696-5235, Option 5
ImmunityBio Media:
Katie Dodge
Salutem
978-360-3151
Katie.Dodge@salutemcomms.com
