eXoZymes Biomanufacturing Breakthrough: From Concept to Gram-Scale NCT in Only 5 Months
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) and its spinout NCTx have achieved a significant biomanufacturing breakthrough in producing N-trans-caffeoyltyramine (NCT), a bioactive compound. The company successfully went from concept to gram-scale production in just 5 months, achieving a 96% reaction yield.
This milestone addresses the challenge of sourcing NCT, which naturally occurs in trace amounts (less than 0.014%) in hemp seeds. The breakthrough enables commercial viability in the $216 billion functional food market, growing at 7.6% CAGR. NCT shows promise in supporting liver fat metabolism, gut barrier function, and mitochondrial activity, with preclinical studies demonstrating enhanced fat breakdown and potential NAFLD/MASLD treatment applications.
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) e la sua spinout NCTx hanno raggiunto un importante progresso nella bioproduzione di N-trans-caffeoiltramina (NCT), un composto bioattivo. L'azienda è passata con successo dal concetto alla produzione su scala grammo in soli 5 mesi, ottenendo un rendimento di reazione del 96%.
Questo traguardo risolve la difficoltà di reperire NCT, che si trova naturalmente in quantità minime (meno dello 0,014%) nei semi di canapa. La scoperta rende possibile la commercializzazione nel mercato degli alimenti funzionali da 216 miliardi di dollari, in crescita con un CAGR del 7,6%. L'NCT promette benefici nel supportare il metabolismo dei grassi epatici, la funzione della barriera intestinale e l'attività mitocondriale, con studi preclinici che mostrano un miglioramento nella degradazione dei grassi e potenziali applicazioni nel trattamento di NAFLD/MASLD.
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) y su spinout NCTx han logrado un avance significativo en la bioproducción de N-trans-cafeoiltramina (NCT), un compuesto bioactivo. La empresa pasó con éxito del concepto a la producción a escala de gramos en solo 5 meses, alcanzando un rendimiento de reacción del 96%.
Este hito resuelve el desafío de obtener NCT, que se encuentra naturalmente en cantidades muy pequeñas (menos del 0,014%) en semillas de cáñamo. Este avance permite la viabilidad comercial en el mercado de alimentos funcionales de 216 mil millones de dólares, con un crecimiento anual compuesto (CAGR) del 7,6%. NCT muestra potencial para apoyar el metabolismo de las grasas hepáticas, la función de la barrera intestinal y la actividad mitocondrial, con estudios preclínicos que demuestran una mayor descomposición de grasas y posibles aplicaciones en el tratamiento de NAFLD/MASLD.
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ)와 그 스핀아웃 회사 NCTx는 생체 활성 화합물인 N-트랜스-카페오일티라민(NCT) 생산에서 중요한 생물제조 혁신을 이루었습니다. 회사는 개념에서 그램 규모 생산까지 단 5개월 만에 성공적으로 진행했으며, 96%의 반응 수율을 달성했습니다.
이 성과는 대마씨앗에 극소량(0.014% 미만) 자연적으로 존재하는 NCT 공급 문제를 해결합니다. 이번 혁신은 연평균 성장률 7.6%로 성장 중인 2160억 달러 규모의 기능성 식품 시장에서 상업적 가능성을 열어줍니다. NCT는 간 지방 대사, 장 장벽 기능, 미토콘드리아 활동을 지원하는 데 유망하며, 전임상 연구에서 지방 분해 촉진과 NAFLD/MASLD 치료 가능성을 보여주고 있습니다.
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) et sa filiale NCTx ont réalisé une avancée majeure dans la bioproduction de la N-trans-caféoyltyramine (NCT), un composé bioactif. L'entreprise est passée avec succès du concept à la production à l'échelle du gramme en seulement 5 mois, atteignant un rendement de réaction de 96%.
Cette étape franchie répond au défi de l'approvisionnement en NCT, naturellement présent en très faibles quantités (moins de 0,014%) dans les graines de chanvre. Cette percée rend viable la commercialisation sur le marché des aliments fonctionnels, évalué à 216 milliards de dollars, avec une croissance annuelle composée de 7,6%. La NCT montre un potentiel prometteur pour soutenir le métabolisme des graisses hépatiques, la fonction de la barrière intestinale et l'activité mitochondriale, avec des études précliniques démontrant une amélioration de la dégradation des graisses et des applications potentielles dans le traitement de la NAFLD/MASLD.
eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) und sein Spin-off NCTx haben einen bedeutenden Durchbruch in der Bioproduktion von N-trans-Caffeoyltyramin (NCT), einer bioaktiven Verbindung, erzielt. Das Unternehmen schaffte den Übergang vom Konzept zur Produktion im Grammbereich in nur 5 Monaten und erreichte dabei eine Reaktionsausbeute von 96%.
Dieser Meilenstein löst das Problem der Beschaffung von NCT, das natürlicherweise nur in Spurenmengen (weniger als 0,014%) in Hanfsamen vorkommt. Der Durchbruch ermöglicht die kommerzielle Nutzung im 216 Milliarden Dollar schweren Markt für funktionelle Lebensmittel, der mit einem jährlichen Wachstum von 7,6% wächst. NCT zeigt Potenzial zur Unterstützung des Fettstoffwechsels in der Leber, der Darmbarrierefunktion und der mitochondrialen Aktivität, wobei präklinische Studien eine verbesserte Fettverbrennung und mögliche Anwendungen bei der Behandlung von NAFLD/MASLD nahelegen.
- None.
- Product purity profile assessment still pending completion
- Early stage of development with preclinical studies only
Insights
eXoZymes demonstrates accelerated biomanufacturing capability with NCT production breakthrough, validating their platform's technical and commercial potential.
This breakthrough announcement represents a significant technical milestone for eXoZymes' biomanufacturing platform. The company has successfully developed a proprietary process to produce N-trans-caffeoyltyramine (NCT) at gram-scale in just 5 months - an achievement they claim is unprecedented in the synthetic biology industry.
The 96% reaction yield mentioned is particularly noteworthy from a bioprocessing perspective. For context, naturally occurring NCT exists in hemp seeds at concentrations below 0.014%, making natural extraction commercially unfeasible. This synthetic biology approach essentially solves a critical supply chain bottleneck for a compound with potential applications in metabolic health markets.
What makes this development commercially significant is the dual-approach strategy: eXoZymes has created a spinout (NCTx) specifically to commercialize this technology while demonstrating their platform's capabilities. This allows them to capture value from NCT itself while showcasing their "powered by eXoZymes" platform for
The accelerated timeline (5 months from concept to gram-scale production) could provide eXoZymes with a significant competitive advantage in the synthetic biology space, where development cycles typically take years. By establishing a material transfer agreement program for early access partners, they're implementing a smart go-to-market strategy that allows for market validation before full-scale commercialization.
The technical validation of their exozyme platform on NCT serves as a proof-of-concept that could potentially be replicated for hundreds of other high-value compounds, as mentioned by the CEO. This positions eXoZymes not just as a single-product company but as a versatile biomanufacturing platform with multiple commercial applications spanning both nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets.
N-trans-caffeoyltyramine (NCT) is a natural bioactive compound attracting considerable interest from researchers for its potential role in healthy liver fat metabolism, gut barrier function, and mitochondrial activity.
Using eXoZymes' AI-driven platform, a new and proprietary approach to biomanufacturing of NCT - with all the scale-up advantages of an exozyme biosolution - has been developed: Progressing from concept to lab scale validation with gram-scale production in only 5 months and at a fraction of normal SynBio R&D cost.
NCTx was created as a spin-out company to commercialize the NCT technology and is now able to provide early access partners, under material transfer agreement with product samples. NCTx and eXoZymes are actively looking to increase the number of partners.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / July 22, 2025 / Today, eXoZymes Inc. (NASDAQ:EXOZ) ("eXoZymes") - a pioneer of AI-engineered enzymes that can transform sustainable feedstock into nutraceuticals, medicines, and other essential chemicals - together with its spinout NCTx, announced a breakthrough in biomanufacturing using their cell-free exozyme platform: From proof-of-concept to lab scale validation with gram-scale production in only 5 months.
This critical technical milestone validates the exozyme biosolution process design for NCT, enabling it to overcome a longstanding bottleneck in sourcing the NCT compound from nature, where it occurs only in trace amounts. Naturally found in quantities less than
Successful completion of this milestone enables eXoZymes' team to initiate a comprehensive assessment of the purity profile. Separately, data collected on process-related parameters provides foundational de-risking information for the biomanufacturing economic assumptions and allows eXoZymes to expand the number of early access partners.
"Going from the original proof-of-concept to lab scale validation, our goal was to make a first version of a biosolution that can produce at least one gram of NCT per batch, which we now have delivered on with an impressive
View a video of Dr. Paul Opgenorth's comments, right here.
CEO of eXoZymes, Michael Heltzen, adds, "This biomanufacturing breakthrough of producing NCT is a massive accomplishment by our team and our exozyme platform! Not only can we produce NCT way more efficiently than any current methods, but we've also reached this milestone in record time - an ability to drive the development and initial validation at unprecedented speeds. This is the perfect showcase for the potential of our 'powered by eXoZymes' platform, which can be used to build biosolutions for 100s of different and valuable chemicals.
Hetlzen elaborates, "Remember, NCT is just our first of more 'powered by eXoZymes' natural products, that can both be taken to market as nutraceuticals, or in optimized or analog versions that has a pharmaceutical potential."
Demand for bioactive ingredients in functional food is a
Enhanced fat breakdown and mitochondrial output in liver cells
Modulation of gut-related gene expression linked to intestinal balance for better gut health. For more information, please go to nctx.one or see video interviews here.
Call for early access partners
By partnering with eXoZymes, early access partners gain access to the world's leading cell-free state-of-the-art biomanufacturing platform, which empowers organizations to innovate faster and more efficiently. Interested parties can explore via this link, including the different partnership models:
https://exozymes.com/partners
About eXoZymes
Founded in 2019, the company has developed a biomanufacturing platform that - as a historic first - offers the tools and insights to design, engineer, control and optimize nature's own natural processes to produce chemical compounds, enabling the company's partners to upgrade traditional petro-chemical production methods with a new commercially scalable, sustainable, and eco-friendly alternative: exozymes.
Exozymes are advanced enzymes enhanced through AI and bioengineering to thrive in a bioreactor without using living cells. Exozymes can replace toxic petrochemical processes and inefficient biochemical extraction with sustainable and scalable biosolutions that transform biomass into essential chemicals, medicines, and biofuels.
By freeing enzyme-driven chemical reactions from the limitations imposed by cells, exozyme biosolutions eliminate the scaling bottleneck that has hampered commercial success in the synthetic biology (SynBio) space, making exozymes the next generation of biomanufacturing.
While the company, eXoZymes Inc., has introduced "exozymes" as a scientific concept, they are not trademarking the concept, as they view it as a new nomenclature for wide adoption for this next generation of biomanufacturing that eXoZymes aims to pioneer and be the market leader of.
Learn more on exozymes.com
eXoZymes Safe Harbor
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe the company's future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "strategy," "future," "likely," "potential," or other comparable terms, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release regarding the company's strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of eXoZymes' quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K, and other documents filed by eXoZymes from time to time by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings identify and address important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and eXoZymes assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. eXoZymes does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
eXoZymes contact
Lasse Görlitz, VP of Communications
(858) 319-7135
press@exozymes.com
SOURCE: eXoZymes
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
FAQ
What breakthrough did eXoZymes (NASDAQ:EXOZ) announce in July 2025?
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