Codexis Appoints Dr. Hicham Alaoui, Veteran Drug Discoverer, as Vice President, Biotherapeutics Research & Development

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDXS), a leading protein engineering company, announces the appointment of Hicham Alaoui, Ph.D. to the newly created position of Vice President, Biotherapeutics Research & Development. The appointment brings Dr. Alaoui’s unique drug discovery skills and talents to Codexis at a pivotal time as the company expands its Biotherapeutics business and works to follow recent success in bringing its first drug candidate, CDX-6114 for potential treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), into early clinical trials. Hicham will report to Codexis President & CEO John Nicols and will be responsible for directing the Codexis’ biotherapeutics discovery pipeline within R&D, and for the acceleration of drug candidates toward the clinic. 

“Hicham’s broad and extensive drug discovery talents are a crucial and welcome addition to Codexis’ great R&D tradition,” said Nicols. “Hicham will amplify our ability to drive candidates from our drug discovery pipeline and toward clinical trials given his unique drug discovery, pharmacology, and product characterization skills refined over decades against a wide ranging set of therapeutic modalities and disease areas. In addition to his synergistic scientific expertise, Hicham will also bring a wealth of drug discovery and development leadership experience that will help the Codexis leadership team broadly with the continued build-out of the Biotherapeutics business.”

“Timing for my arrival at Codexis is tremendous,” said Dr. Alaoui. “The CodeEvolver^® protein engineering platform has already successfully brought a drug candidate for PKU into clinical trials, following its demonstration of a unique mode of gastro-intestinal action in preclinical pharmacology models. I plan to help demonstrate that this is only the beginning for successfully applying CodeEvolver^® technology as a drug discovery engine, and to accelerate the pace of lead candidates advancing from Codexis’ biotherapeutics discovery pipeline.”

Dr. Alaoui has more than 20 years of experience in a variety of drug discovery and development organizations. Most recently Dr. Alaoui served as Senior Vice President Discovery Biology and co-head of Research at Symic Bio, where he was responsible for expanding that company’s pipeline and strategically extending into new therapeutic areas. Prior to Symic Bio, Dr. Alaoui worked for five years at Genentech, ultimately leading a large in vitro pharmacology group dedicated to lead discovery and optimization for both biotherapeutic and small molecule programs. Prior to Genentech, he acted as key contributor for driving multiple protein therapeutic candidates into clinical trials, as well as the establishment of novel in vitro and in vivo pharmacology assays through his various R&D leadership positions at Stryker Biotech, VisEn Medical, Neogenesis Pharmaceuticals, and Shire BioChem. Dr. Alaoui earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as well as an M.Sc. in Biochemistry from Pierre & Marie Curie Université, Paris, France. Dr. Alaoui has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, in addition to being named as an inventor on multiple patent applications.

About Codexis, Inc.

Codexis is a leading protein engineering company that applies its proprietary CodeEvolver^® technology to develop proteins for a variety of applications, including as biocatalysts for the commercial manufacture of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and industrial enzymes, and enzymes as biotherapeutics and for use in molecular diagnostics. Codexis’ proven technology enables improvements in protein performance, meeting customer needs for rapid, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing in multiple commercial-scale implementations of biocatalytic processes. For more information, see www.codexis.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Codexis, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond Codexis’ control and that could materially affect actual results. Factors that could materially affect actual results include, among others: Codexis’ dependence on its licensees and collaborators; Codexis’ dependence on a limited number of products and customers in its biocatalysis business; potential adverse effects to Codexis’ business if its customers’ pharmaceutical or food products are not received well in the markets; risks, uncertainties and costs associated with the successful development of biotherapeutic candidates, including obtaining development partners for its biotherapeutic programs and progressing such programs to clinical trials and regulatory approvals; Codexis’ ability to develop and commercialize new products for the biocatalysis markets; Codexis’ dependence on a limited number of contract manufacturers for large-scale production of its enzymes; Codexis’ ability to deploy its technology platform in new market spaces, including the fine chemicals, therapeutics and in vitro molecular diagnostics markets; Codexis’ ability to comply with the terms of its credit facility and its associated debt service obligations; Codexis’ need for additional capital in the future in order to expand its business or to adjust for market conditions or strategic considerations, which may involve Codexis entering into equity offerings, debt financings, credit facilities and/or strategic collaborations; Codexis’ dependence on key personnel; Codexis’ ability to establish and maintain adequate protection for intellectual property, trade secrets and other proprietary rights covering its technologies; and any claims by third parties that Codexis is infringing their intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights. Additional information about factors that could materially affect actual results can be found in Codexis’ Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 15, 2018 and Form 10-Q filed May 10, 2018, including under the caption “Risk Factors” and in Codexis’ other periodic reports filed with the SEC. Codexis expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.