Codexis (NASDAQ:CDXS) used its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to highlight progress behind its strategic focus on RNA medicines, with management emphasizing technical milestones for its enzymatic siRNA manufacturing platform, growing commercial engagement, and a stronger liquidity position following a technology transfer agreement with Merck.
Strategic focus: scaling ECO Synthesis for siRNA manufacturing
President and CEO Dr. Alison Moore said Codexis is now focused on RNA medicine, centered on its ECO Synthesis platform (Enzyme-Catalyzed Oligonucleotide Synthesis). Moore argued that the number of siRNA medicines in development is increasing at a rate of 5% to 10% per year and said current production technologies “will not be able to keep up with demand.” She cited an estimated $2 billion total addressable annual market for production technologies in five years.
In chemoenzymatic production, Moore also noted that a client used Codexis’ ligase to manufacture a 3-kilogram batch of siRNA, which she described as a major achievement.
Manufacturing infrastructure: enzyme supply and a planned GMP facility
Moore said Codexis made progress on building a supply chain to support ECO Synthesis, which requires a suite of purified enzymes. The company modernized its non-GMP production capability in Redwood City and achieved ISO 9001 certification in the first quarter of 2026. She added that the company has since passed a facility and quality management system inspection by a large pharmaceutical customer, positioning Codexis to supply ECO enzymes.
On GMP capability, management said it is moving forward on a capital project to retrofit a new GMP plant leased in 2025. Codexis expects to begin construction in the second half of 2026 and expects the plant to be fully operational by the end of 2027, supporting adoption of ECO Synthesis and enabling the company to serve customers with GMP siRNA.
Commercial momentum: pipeline growth, a new innovator contract, and CDMO partnerships
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Britton Jimenez said 2025 was the year ECO Synthesis moved from “technical feasibility” to being able to support preclinical development as customers progress toward IND and other regulatory submissions. He reported 55 opportunities in the sales pipeline across 40 individual companies.
Jimenez discussed a recently announced contract with an emerging biotech company under which Codexis will supply 50 grams of siRNA drug substance made using fully enzymatic ECO Synthesis. He said the customer intends to use the material for preclinical testing and, if goals are met, plans to use Codexis’ process to move the candidate into clinical studies—giving Codexis what he described as its first “line of sight” to an ECO-produced drug entering human studies. Financially, he called it a low seven-figure contract expected to be completed over the next 12 months and said revenue is split fairly evenly between services and product revenue.
Jimenez also outlined how innovator agreements could evolve from evaluation work into multi-year arrangements incorporating licensing fees, milestone payments, and clinical supply agreements, and eventually commercial supply agreements if products succeed. For CDMOs, he said relationships are currently in a feasibility assessment phase, with an expected move into an adoption phase that would include transferring production scale processes to CDMO facilities under commercial agreements featuring upfront licensing fees and referral revenue-sharing arrangements.
Codexis said it exceeded its 2025 goal of signing one CDMO arrangement, instead signing three agreements—with Bachem, Nitto Denko Avecia, and Axolabs. Moore said each partnership begins with feasibility work in Codexis’ labs using a specific therapeutic asset sequence.
Separately, Jimenez pointed to Codexis’ history in technology licensing and said the company intends to sign a licensing-type deal in 2026, following the Merck agreement that he said provided $38 million of non-dilutive capital.
Technology development: stereoisomer control and customer interest
Moore said Codexis introduced a new ECO Synthesis capability in 2025: generating siRNA with specific stereochemical control. She said the company presented initial data demonstrating stereoisomer resolution at TIDES USA and is building the ability to control stereoisomer configuration at both the three-prime and five-prime ends of the siRNA molecule.
In the Q&A, Moore said Codexis is already examining biological activity for certain stereo configurations and expects to show more substantive data at TIDES USA. She added that the company will work through 2026 to associate configurations with the possibility of improved potency, citing a published precedent, and said multiple customers have expressed interest in collaborating to evaluate the opportunity for specific assets.
Financial results: Merck-driven quarter, margin improvement, and 2026 outlook
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer Georgia Erbez said fourth-quarter 2025 revenue was $38.9 million, up from $21.5 million in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to the Merck technology transfer agreement executed in Q4 2025. She said a small amount of revenue under that agreement is expected to be recognized in the first quarter of 2026. Full-year 2025 revenue was $70.4 million, compared with $59.3 million in 2024.
Product gross margin was 64% for the fourth quarter and 64% for the full year, up from 56% in the prior year. Erbez attributed the improvement to product mix, including declines in several low-margin products replaced with more profitable product sales, and said the company expects gross margins to remain stable in 2026 at 2025 levels.
On expenses, R&D was $11.7 million in Q4 2025 (vs. $12.1 million in Q4 2024) and $52.3 million for the full year (vs. $46.3 million). SG&A was $11.2 million in Q4 (vs. $13.0 million) and $47.1 million for the year (vs. $55.1 million). Q4 included a one-time restructuring charge of $3.4 million related to a reorganization announced in November 2025. Management said workforce realignment actions are expected to partially offset the cost of the planned GMP facility, with the goal of limiting any increase in cash burn.
Net income in Q4 2025 was $9.6 million, compared with a loss of $10.4 million a year earlier. For the full year, Codexis reported a net loss of $44.0 million, compared with a $65.3 million net loss in 2024.
Erbez guided to 2026 revenue of $72 million to $76 million and said revenue is expected to be weighted more heavily toward the second half of the year. She also said the company ended 2025 with $78.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, which management expects to fund operations and capital expenditures through the end of 2027.
Looking ahead, Moore said Codexis’ 2026 goals include signing longer-term, higher-value contracts tied to ECO Synthesis, pursuing new licensing deals, continuing scale-up progress, and beginning retrofit construction of the GMP facility later in the year.
About Codexis (NASDAQ:CDXS)
Codexis, Inc, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading protein engineering company focused on the development of innovative enzyme solutions for pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and specialty chemical applications. The company’s proprietary directed evolution platform, CodeEvolver®, enables the rapid identification and optimization of enzymes with enhanced activity, selectivity and stability. By leveraging this technology, Codexis provides custom biocatalysts designed to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
Since its founding in 2002, Codexis has expanded its capabilities from early-stage research to commercial-scale production.
