EMERYVILLE, Calif. and
CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amyris, Inc.
(Nasdaq: AMRS), a leading synthetic biotechnology company
accelerating the world to sustainable consumption through its
Lab-to-Market™ 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-Market™ 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.
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SOURCE Amyris, Inc.