Evolva in collaboration with Ajinomoto Co Donnerstag, 17. Januar 2013 - 07:03

Reinach, Switzerland, 17 January 2013 - Evolva Holding SA (SIX: EVE) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Ajinomoto Co. Inc., Japan, for the joint development of novel fermentation production routes for a natural functional ingredient for application in Personal Care. Ajinomoto Co is a world leader in the area of amino acids.

During the 3½ year collaboration, Ajinomoto Co will fund research and development activities at Evolva, focused initially on building a novel, valuable pathway with Evolva’s fermentation technology and subsequently on improving production yield through the scale-up and manufacturing phases.  During the collaboration, 7 full-time scientists at Evolva are expected to work on the program. Evolva will receive an upfront exclusivity and technology access fee as well as monthly research fees. In addition, Evolva will receive milestone payments upon achieving certain goals in terms of yield, productivity and production costs. The total fees and milestone payments to Evolva during the collaboration will amount to more than CHF 10 million. In case of commercialisation, Evolva will receive a royalty as a percentage on product sold.

Neil Goldsmith, Chief Executive Officer of Evolva, said: “We value highly the confidence in our capabilities that Ajinomoto Co is showing by entering into this collaboration. We look forward to providing Ajinomoto Co with efficient production routes for their important product. For Evolva, this project has long-term benefits as it allows us to build a pathway which can be important for other products.”

About Ajinomoto Co. Inc.

Ajinomoto Co. is a global manufacturer of high-quality seasonings, processed foods, beverages, amino acids, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals. For many decades Ajinomoto Co. has contributed to food culture and human health through wide-ranging application of amino acid technologies. Today, the company is becoming increasingly involved with solutions for improved food resources, human health and global sustainability. Founded in 1909 and now operating in 26 countries, Ajinomoto Co. had net sales of JPY 1,197.3 billion (USD 15.1 billion) in fiscal 2011. For more about Ajinomoto Co., (TYO: 2802), visit www.ajinomoto.com.

About Evolva

Evolva’s mission is to discover and provide innovative, sustainable ingredients for health, nutrition and wellness. Evolva uses biosynthetic and evolutionary technologies to create and optimise small molecule compounds and their production routes. We are active in consumer healthcare and nutrition as well as in pharma. In both areas we have partnered projects as well as proprietary programmes. For more information see www.evolva.com.

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