Amyris Wins Big With First Cannabinoid Milestone Payment

Companies and Brands

Published: March 29, 2019 11:45 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 10:40 pm

Amyris Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS) shares jumped on Friday after the firm announced 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.

Earlier this week, Amyris announced that management will be presenting at the Paradigm Capital Biosynthesis Conference on April 15 in Toronto. The focus of the conference will be to explore the most disruptive technology in the cannabis industry. Amyris believes that with its commercial history and technology platform that it is well suited to leverage development and commercialization of high-purity cannabinoids at significantly reduced cost through fermentation.

At the conference, Amyris will discuss its previously disclosed cannabinoid development, licensing and commercialization agreement containing $300 million of R&D and milestone payments and a long-term royalty stream.

Keep in mind that Amyris currently boasts a market cap of roughly $168 million.

As for this milestone payment, John Melo, president and CEO of Amyris, commented:

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. 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.

Shares of Amyris were last seen up about 4.5% at $20, in a 52-week range of $1.87 to $9.29. The consensus price target is $11.00.