DEINOVE Successfully Completes the First Key Milestone of Its DEINOCHEM Program and Receives 1 Million Euros

Regulatory News:

DEINOVE (Paris:ALDEI), an industrial biotech company developing innovative processes for producing biofuels and bio-based compounds from Deinococcus bacteria, today announced it has reached the first milestone of its DEINOCHEM green chemistry program, funded by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) in the framework of the French government initiative "Investing for the Future” ¹.

Consequently, DEINOVE will receive, in early February 2015, approximately one million euros in the form of a repayable advance.

The DEINOCHEM program aims to develop new industrial processes to produce intermediates or specialty chemicals from renewable resources by improving the performance of Deinococcus bacteria. The goal is to offer alternatives to products usually derived from petroleum or extracted from plants with low yields, for perfumeries, cosmetics, food and feed. The first molecules produced are aromatic ingredients, antioxidants and / or high-added value pigments, representing a market of hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

Achieving this milestone validates the progress made in the genetic engineering of strains. The modified strains construction flow has multiplied by 10 in less than a year, thus accelerating the production and testing of strains of interest. Also, DEINOVE teams have made progress in identifying limiting enzymes² to optimize the production of targeted isoprenoids. The license acquired from the INRA and Genoplante Valor³ for the key enzyme DXS has contributed to these results.

Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of DEINOVE, said: "We are moving towards the provision of innovative technologies for industry that will help preserve the planet's resources. I congratulate our teams for their commitment and effectiveness. We are moving faster than expected and have already started the next phase of the project, which basically includes production parameters optimization and gradual scale-up. Meanwhile, we continue to explore the potential of Deinococcus to produce other molecules 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 bio-based chemicals (DEINOCHEM). On these markets, the Company offers its technology to industrial partners globally.
Listed on NYSE Alternext since April 2010, DEINOVE was founded by Dr. Philippe Pouletty, General Partner of TRUFFLE CAPITAL, and Pr. Miroslav Radman, of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris Descartes University. The company employs over 40 people in its new offices and laboratories located in Montpellier, France.

More information at www.deinove.com

¹ See the press release of November 13, 2013
² Limiting enzyme: enzyme which may in some cases limit the speed of an entire metabolic pathway and therefore slow the synthesis of the final product
³ See the press release of June 16, 2014