Maxygen

Maxygen Inc. (Nasdaq: MAXY) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing improved versions of protein drugs using DNA shuffling and other protein modification technologies. The company is headquartered in Redwood City, CA and has R&D facilities in Horsholm, Denmark.

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Clinical Programs

Maxygen’s clinical programs include a novel G-CSF for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, which entered clinical trials in 2006. Maxygen’s variant interferon alpha for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is licensed to F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. and entered clinical trials in late 2006. Maxygen is also developing a novel Factor VII molecule for treatment of hemophilia, and has ongoing drug discovery efforts in the areas of autoimmunity, thrombosis, and hematology.

Technologies

Maxygen was established to commercially exploit its proprietary recombination-based technologies for creating genetic diversity, known as its Molecular Breeding™ directed evolution platform. These technologies allow the generation of millions of variant genes and proteins, which then can be screened to identify those of potential commercial interest. This laboratory process mimics the powerful natural process of evolution. Maxygen’s work has led to numerous scientific publications and patents.

Other protein engineering and protein modification technologies used by Maxygen include mutagenesis, rational design, PEGylation, glycosylation, and de-immunization.

History

Maxygen was founded in 1997 by Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni, a San Francisco Bay Area scientist and entrepreneur, and 3 co-founders: Dr. Willem Stemmer, Dr. Russell Howard and Isaac Stein. Dr. Zaffaroni has founded multiple companies including ALZA Corporation, DNAX Research Institute, Affymax, Affymetrix, Symyx and Alexza.

Maxygen has demonstrated that the MolecularBreeding™ directed evolution platform has commercial potential in a number of areas, including agriculture, veterinary medicine, enzyme/chemical processes, and human therapeutics. To facilitate the commercial development of products made with its technologies, in 2002 Maxygen established Codexis Inc. to focus on enzyme/chemical applications and Verdia Inc. to focus on agricultural applications. Verdia was sold to DuPont in 2004 for $64 million. In addition, Maxygen established Avidia in 2003 to develop protein subunits as commercial products, including therapeutics. Avidia was purchased by Amgen in 2006 for $290 million.