Amyris and Firmenich Announce Expanded Collaboration
15 Mar 2013 --- Amyris, Inc., a leading renewable chemicals company, and Firmenich SA, a leading global flavors and fragrances company, have announced a significant expansion of their collaboration to develop and commercialize renewable ingredients for the Flavors and Fragrances (F&F) market.
Outside existing Amyris relationships, the new collaboration agreement provides Firmenich with exclusive access to the Amyris technology platform for the F&F market in exchange for significant funding over the next six years.
"We are very pleased with the progress of our ongoing collaboration with Amyris, grounded in our vision to be the leaders in renewable ingredients for the flavor and fragrance market," said Patrick Firmenich, Chief Executive Officer. "This partnership leverages Firmenich's world class biotechnology platform within the F&F industry, enabled by our leading team of molecular biologists and unique intellectual property, as well as, our deep client intimacy and market understanding. Innovation and sustainability are critical pillars of our business model. Thanks to this expanded partnership, we look forward to consistently providing our clients with high-quality, sustainable, and cost-competitive ingredients," emphasized Firmenich.
"We are excited to expand our productive collaboration with Firmenich," said John Melo, Amyris President & Chief Executive Officer. "The rapid pace of our targeted ingredient development so far confirms our ability to deliver a host of disruptive, competitive ingredients to our partners and underscores the strategic value of collaborations for Amyris." Under a previous agreement established in November 2010, Firmenich funded Amyris's research and development to produce up to three F&F ingredients, with an initial fragrance oil targeted for commercialization in early 2014. Under the new agreement, Amyris and Firmenich will jointly select additional target F&F ingredients that Amyris will develop and manufacture. Firmenich will market and distribute any ingredients resulting from the collaboration exclusively in the F&F market. Both parties will share in the economic value derived from the sale of these ingredients.
Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules—flexible building blocks that can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris is commercializing these products both as No Compromise renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris's production in Brazil.
Firmenich is the largest privately-owned company in the perfume and flavor business. Swiss, family-owned and founded in Geneva in 1895, it has created many of the world's best-known perfumes and flavors that you enjoy each day. Its passion for smell and taste is at the heart of its success. It is renowned for its creativity and innovation, as well as its exceptional understanding of consumer trends. Every year, it invests around 10% of its turnover in R&D, reflecting its continued desire to understand, share and sublimate the best that nature has to offer. The annual turnover for Firmenich was 2.64 billion Swiss francs at end June 2012.
