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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Codexis , Inc. (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:), a prominent enzyme engineering firm, announced today the addition of Masad Damha, PhD, and Jim Lalonde, PhD, to its Strategic Advisory Board (SAB). These appointments aim to bolster the company’s strategic direction and innovation in RNA-based therapeutic manufacturing with the ECO Synthesis™ platform.
The SAB, which includes John Maraganore, PhD, former CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, will now benefit from Dr. Damha’s expertise in RNA targeting and gene editing, as well as Dr. Lalonde’s extensive background in enzyme engineering. Stefan Lutz, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research at Codexis, expressed confidence that the new board composition will enhance the company’s progress towards technical milestones and facilitate early access customer testing slated for the latter half of 2024.
Dr. Damha, a Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University and co-founder of Anagenis, Inc., has contributed significantly to new therapeutic drugs and authored over 200 publications. His FANA technology is applied in various research and industry settings to develop modified oligonucleotides for targeting diseases.
Dr. Lalonde, a former Codexis Senior Vice President of Research and Development, has overseen the development of numerous enzymes for diverse applications. He currently consults for biotechnology startups and holds leadership positions in several scientific advisory boards.
The ECO Synthesis™ platform is being developed to address scalability and cost challenges in RNAi therapeutic production, which is expected to outpace current capabilities by the decade’s end. Codexis achieved gram-scale synthesis in December 2023, demonstrating the potential of its enzymatic route for commercial-scale RNAi therapeutic manufacture.
Codexis specializes in creating high-performance enzymes and proteins through its proprietary CodeEvolver® technology platform, tackling challenges in pharmaceuticals manufacturing and nucleic acid synthesis. The company’s ECO Synthesis™ platform represents a strategic move to capture market share in the burgeoning field of RNAi therapeutics.
The information for this article is based on a press release statement from Codexis, Inc.
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