Singapore: Evolva Holding SA entered into a collaboration agreement with Ajinomoto, Japan, for the joint development of novel fermentation production routes for a natural functional ingredient for application in personal care.

During the three-and-a-half year collaboration, Ajinomoto will fund R&D activities at Evolva, focused initially on building a novel and valuable pathway with Evolva's fermentation technology and subsequently on improving production yield through the scale-up and manufacturing phases.

During the collaboration, seven full-time scientists at Evolva are expected to work on the program. Evolva will receive an upfront exclusivity and technology access fee as well as monthly research fees. In addition, Evolva will receive milestone payments upon achieving certain goals in terms of yield, productivity and production costs.

The total fees and milestone payments to Evolva during the collaboration will amount to more than CHF 10 million. In case of commercialisation, Evolva will receive a royalty as a percentage on product sold.

Dr Panchapagesa Murali, CEO, Evolva India, said: "We value highly the confidence in our capabilities that Ajinomoto Co is showing by entering into this collaboration. We look forward to providing Ajinomoto Co with efficient production routes for their important product. For Evolva, this project has long-term benefits as it allows us to build a pathway which can be important for other products."