EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS), a leader in the development and production of sustainable ingredients for the Health & Wellness, Clean Beauty and Flavors & Fragrances markets, today reported that it has successfully delivered on its first milestone for its cannabinoid partner, LAVVAN, earning its first payment of $10 million, which is part of a $300 million collaboration before future royalty payments.



Amyris uses its best-in-class technology platform to continue to advance its unparalleled commercial success for using yeast to create pure, sustainable, fermented natural products.

“We are pleased with meeting our first milestone and confident in the capabilities of our R&D team toward rapidly meeting the objectives of this major agreement,” said John Melo, President & CEO of Amyris. “We can create highly pure CBD molecules and we can bring down the cost significantly to support broad consumer adoption. This is the start of what we believe will be a mutually rewarding relationship with our partner, LAVVAN.”

“My team is truly excited to be working on this project with the support of LAVVAN, and is pleased with having delivered the first milestone on plan. The large body of work done prior to the announcement of the deal further strengthens our confidence in successfully developing and commercializing a large family of cannabinoid ingredients,” commented Joel Cherry, Amyris President of Research and Development.

“We are delighted with Amyris’s ability to quickly meet the initial milestone requirement of our agreement,” said Etan Bendheim, LAVVAN CEO. “This meaningful laboratory achievement further confirms our thesis that Amyris is best suited to meet the task of commercializing cannabinoid ingredients in a highly disruptive and cost-efficient fashion. LAVVAN is busy laying the groundwork to scalably leverage Amyris’s platform and we believe we will achieve a sizeable return on our investment in this rapidly expanding market.”

About Amyris

Amyris is the integrated renewable products company that is enabling the world’s leading brands to achieve sustainable growth. Amyris applies its innovative bioscience solutions to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules and produce specialty ingredients and consumer products. The company is delivering its No Compromise™ products and services across a number of markets, including specialty and performance chemicals, flavors and fragrances, cosmetics ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. More information about the company is available at www.amyris.com.

About LAVVAN

LAVVAN, Inc. is a newly-formed company backed by leaders across the pharmaceutical, cannabis, and financial sectors. LAVVAN is focused on spearheading bio-based disruption of the cannabinoid sector and providing the market with superior cannabinoids at significantly reduced cost for a multitude of consumer product and therapeutic applications.

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 expected value of the collaboration, the anticipated meeting of the objectives of the agreement, the expected cost of producing CBD molecules under the agreement, and anticipated development and commercialization of cannabinoid ingredients. 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 Amyris's liquidity and ability to fund operating and capital expenses, risks related to potential delays or failures in development, production and commercialization of products, risks related to Amyris's reliance on third parties, and other risks detailed from time to time in filings Amyris makes 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. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Amyris, the Amyris logo and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.