CJ CheilJedang has definitely been very busy this year in the bio-sphere.

Amyris and South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support large-scale manufacturing of Amyris’s farnesene in existing CJ facilities. The arrangement described in the MOU would enable Amyris to utilize CJ’s manufacturing capacity while minimizing the capital investment necessary to support projected near- and mid-term demand for product applications using farnesene.

The partnership is also expected to include the opportunity for CJ Bio (division of CJ CheilJedang) to market select Amyris products in Asian markets as well as the potential for Amyris to develop several products for CJ Bio. The companies are targeting completing a definitive agreement by the first week of August 2016.

“This partnership completes our commercialization strategy by providing us the ability to meet our farnesene demand from our current partners without new investment from Amyris and underpins our expected capacity needs to meet farnesene demand that would require building 3-4 new plants the size of our Brotas facility by 2020. We are also pleased with the opportunity to partner with CJ for sales efforts in Asia and the potential to collaborate on new products that meet the needs of their existing customers.” – John Melo, President & CEO of Amyris.