REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDXS), a leading protein engineering company, announces the signing of a multi-year development agreement with Tate & Lyle, a global provider of food ingredients and solutions. This is the second multi-year agreement signed in recent months between Codexis and Tate & Lyle and highlights Codexis’ continued growth applying its CodeEvolver® protein engineering platform technology in the food industry. This agreement strengthens the existing partnership between the two companies following the completion of a separate supply agreement in December 2016.The agreement covers the research and development of novel enzymes by Codexis designed to support the development of new food ingredients by Tate & Lyle. Under the terms of this development agreement, Codexis will receive a payment from Tate & Lyle in the second quarter of 2017 relating to enzyme technology improvements previously developed independently by Codexis and will also be eligible to receive certain R&D service fees and milestone payments over the next two to three years. “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Tate & Lyle with this new development agreement and to show our growing penetration into the global food industry,” said John Nicols, Codexis President and Chief Executive Officer. “This agreement also highlights our strategy to enhance shareholder returns by developing novel protein technology on our own account and subsequently using that de-risked technology as a base to create enhanced customer partnerships. We successfully employed this strategy here with Tate & Lyle and are poised to do so similarly with our diagnostics enzymes and novel biotherapeutics pipeline.”“We have developed a highly productive technical partnership with Codexis over the past four years,” said Dr. Michael Harrison, SVP New Product Development at Tate & Lyle. “We view Codexis as an extension of our internal research and development programs at Tate & Lyle and are excited about the opportunities which this partnership brings to deliver new and innovative food ingredients to the market.”About CodeEvolver® Protein Engineering Platform TechnologyCodexis’ proprietary CodeEvolver® protein engineering platform technology enables the rapid development of custom-designed enzymes that are highly optimized for a specific function. The CodeEvolver® platform technology is comprised of proprietary methods for the optimization of proteins through the design and generation of diverse genetic libraries, automated screening techniques, algorithms for the interpretation of screening data and predictive modelling. The Codexis CodeEvolver® platform technology is covered by approximately 200 issued patents and pending patent applications worldwide.About Codexis, Inc.Codexis, Inc. is a leading protein engineering company that applies its technology to the development of biocatalysts for commercial manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Codexis’ proven technology enables implementation of biocatalytic solutions to meet customer needs for rapid, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing. For more information, see www.codexis.com.About Tate & LyleTate & Lyle is a global provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industries, with operations in over 30 locations worldwide.Tate & Lyle operates through two global divisions, Speciality Food Ingredients and Bulk Ingredients, supported by our Innovation and Commercial Development and Global Operations groups. The Group's strategy is to become a leading global provider of Speciality Food Ingredients through a disciplined focus on growth, and by driving Bulk Ingredients for sustained cash generation to fuel this growth. Speciality Food Ingredients consists of three platforms: Texturants, which includes speciality starches and stabilisers; Sweeteners, which comprises nutritive sweeteners and our range of no-calorie sweeteners including SPLENDA® Sucralose; and our Health and Wellness portfolio which includes speciality fibres and our salt-reduction offering. Additionally, our Food Systems business provides a wide variety of blended ingredient solutions.Tate & Lyle Bulk Ingredients includes bulk sweeteners, industrial starches and fermentation products (primarily acidulants). Corn co-products from both divisions are primarily sold as animal feed.Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TATE.L. American Depositary Receipts trade under TATYY. In the year to 31 March 2016, Tate & Lyle sales totalled £2.4 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.tateandlyle.comSPLENDA® is a trademark of Heartland Consumer Products LLC.Source: http://ir.codexis.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=208899&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2257860