Amyris, Firmenich Announce Collaboration

EMERYVILLE, Calif.Amyris Inc., announced a collaboration and joint development agreement with Geneva-based Firmenich, the largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company, to jointly develop flavor and fragrance ingredients.

Under the agreement, Firmenich will fund technical development at Amyris to produce a sustainable, cost-effective and reliable source of a key ingredient for the fragrance and flavor market. Amyris will manufacture and supply product to Firmenich, which will market and distribute the product. The parties will share in the economic value derived.

The agreement also grants worldwide exclusive commercialization rights in fragrance and flavor to Firmenich for the ingredient, which will be manufactured by Amyris. Firmenich also has an option to collaborate with Amyris to develop a second ingredient.

"The fragrance and flavor market offers a significant additional opportunity for growth in our renewable chemicals business," said John Melo, CEO of Amyris. "We are excited to be partnering with Firmenich as we apply our technology to produce an expanded range of No Compromise® molecules."

Commenting on the agreement, Firmenich CEO Patrick Firmenich said: "This collaboration with Amyris demonstrates our commitment to innovation and sustainability. As an industry leader in research and innovation, we seek and capture breakthrough ideas from around the world. Amyris's technology platform offers great potential to be a key source for sustainable and high-quality ingredients used in the fragrance and flavor market."