DEINOVE AND GENOPLANTE VALOR AGREEMENT BOOST DEINOCHEM PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

MONTPELLIER, France, Dec. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DEINOVE (Alternext Paris: ALDEI), a technological company that designs, develops and markets a new generation of industrial processes based on Deinococci bacteria, today announced the signing of a License Option Agreement with Génoplante Valor via INRA Transfert, a research enhancement subsidiary of the French National Institute in Agronomic Research that will cover the improvement of isoprenoid biosynthetic pathways. DEINOVE shall implement this technology in the DEINOCHEM programme to strengthen the Deinococcus bacterium's capacity to produce chemicals from bio-based raw materials. This intellectual property has been generated as part of an ANR (National Research Agency) Genomics research programme labelled "Génoplante". Patent details and conditions of acquisition of exploitation rights remain confidential.

"We are thrilled to benefit from the license option that we will aim at validating on the Deinococcus. The work of the INRA Research Team, directed by Philippe Hugueney, should enable us to further our DEINOCHEM programme through the acceleration of our developments in the isoprenoid field", says Emmanuel Petiot, DEINOVE CEO. He recalls "DEINOCHEM is entering a decisive stage and we have just announced funding of almost €6 million granted by the government within the framework of the Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir. This agreement comes at a very timely moment to strengthen DEINOCHEM. Our ambition is to trigger the emergence of a powerful bio-based chemical industry."

Reminder of the DEINOCHEM project and the isoprenoids

The DEINOCHEM project aims to develop and market high performance and economical bio-production processes originating from biomass and based on the exploitation of Deinococcus bacterium. These bacterial micro-factories are capable of producing compounds of interest from almost any type of non-food biomass such as wheat straw, corn stover and cobs, energy crops, and industrial and urban waste. The compounds produced with the DEINOVE process can be substituted for the current traditionally petro-sourced compounds.

The isoprenoids are one of the first compound families targeted by DEINOVE and make up one of the largest families of natural substances in the world (more than 22,000 isoprenoid compounds have been listed to date). They are the subject of numerous industrial applications, as they are found both in cosmetic creams, fragrances and detergents as well as food for human and animal consumption.  
Currently, isoprenoids are mainly extracted from plants or produced by chemical synthesis but suffer from low yields and high production costs.

DEINOVE's objective is to offer high-performance ecological and economical bio-production processes based on the exploitation of Deinococci bacteria. The latter are naturally endowed with abilities which make them ideal for this type of development; natural expression of certain isoprenoids and resistance to their toxicity, demonstrated capacity to render these bacteria "hyperproducers" of a specific product of interest .

About DEINOVE
DEINOVE (Alternext Paris: ALDEI) is ushering in a new era of green chemistry by designing and developing new standards of production based on bacteria of untapped potential: the Deinococci. Taking advantage of the bacteria's unique genetic properties and unusual robustness, DEINOVE optimizes natural fermentation and metabolic capabilities of these bacterial "micro-factories" to produce high value added products from non-food biomass. The Company's primary markets are 2nd generation biofuels (DEINOL) and chemical intermediates (DEINOCHEM). Listed on Alternext since April 2010, DEINOVE was founded by Philippe Pouletty MD, General Partner of TRUFFLE CAPITAL, and Professor Miroslav Radman, of the Faculty of Medicine of the University René Descartes. The company employs over 40 people in its new offices and laboratories located at the Biopôle Euromédecine, in Montpellier.

More information at www.deinove.com

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INRA PR http://hugin.info/142979/R/1750177/589670.pdf

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