Company announces agreement with
Antibióticos S.A. for production of Mirel biopolymer resin.
Metabolix, Inc.,(www.metabolix.com) an innovation-driven bioscience
company focused on delivering sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and
energy, announces that it has signed a letter of intent ("LOI") withAntibioticos S.A.(www.antibioticos-sa.com) for production of MirelTM
biopolymer resin at its manufacturing facility in Leon, Spain.
Under
the terms of the LOI, Metabolix will begin work immediately with Antibioticos
to conduct a series of validation production runs to demonstrate fermentation
and recovery of Mirel biopolymer resin on full production-scale equipment at
Antibioticos. The companies plan to enter into a definitive contract
manufacturing agreement for Mirel biopolymers based upon the validation
production runs as well as completion of economic and engineering feasibility studies.
Metabolix will own the Mirel biopolymer resin produced during the validation
production runs.
"The
agreement with Antibioticos represents a significant step forward in
establishing a new supply chain for Mirel biopolymers to serve our customers
worldwide and to continue product development in high value-added
applications," says Richard P. Eno, president and chief executive officer
of Metabolix. "In addition, Antibioticos is located in the European Union
near many of our targeted customers. We are impressed with the track record,
technical expertise and facilities at Antibioticos, and believe their equipment
is well-suited to the manufacturing process used to produce Mirel biopolymers
at commercial scale."
"This
agreement brings together our experience and technical capacity with
Metabolix's technology and processes in a way that supports the values and
vision of both companies," says Daniele Pucci Di Benisichi, president of
Antibioticos. "The first step of our work with Metabolix will be to
validate their technology in our facility. Then, we'll look ahead to creating a
contract manufacturing agreement. Antibioticos follows a very demanding and
selective approach for new projects and partners, and we're particularly
pleased to be working with Metabolix to deepen our work in sustainable
technologies and diversify our business portfolio."
Metabolix's
biopolymers are based on polyhydroxyalkanoates ("PHA") which occur
naturally in micro-organisms and plants. Mirel biopolymers are biobased,
uniquely biodegradable, and suitable for a wide range of product applications.
Metabolix has previously demonstrated production of Mirel biopolymer resin at
industrial scale. Metabolix is currently supplying Mirel biopolymer resin to
customers from existing inventory of approximately 5 million pounds.
