ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, announced today the award of its eighth U.S. patent in only eight months. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Gevo U.S. Patent No. 8,158,404 (‘404 Patent) for the elimination of another key enzyme pathway in its isobutanol-producing yeast. This is one of three related patents covering technology which block unwanted enzymatic pathways that hijack carbohydrates in yeast.
“Our development strategy is becoming publicly apparent with each new patent,” said Gevo’s EVP and General Counsel Brett Lund. “The naturally occurring pathway in yeast doesn’t produce commercially viable amounts of isobutanol. Realizing this pathway had been metabolically engineered many times, yet failed to produce isobutanol at meaningful yields, we modified the pathway to increase its efficiency and eliminated side reactions. Metabolically engineering yeast is difficult because yeast are complex organisms. Our success can be attributed to our talented team of scientists and our technology.”
Gevo also announced today that it is filing an infringement case against Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax) and its affiliate E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for its unlawful use of the ‘404 Patent.
“As an innovative technology company, it is our fiduciary responsibility to exclude others from using our patented technology for their own purposes without Gevo's consent.” said Lund. “We realize that Butamax has repeatedly stated that they don’t need or use our technology to produce commercial yields of biobutanol, but this is contrary to the information they have publicly disclosed in their own patent applications.”
Gevo’s intellectual property portfolio encompasses pioneering technology across the entire value chain. Gevo’s portfolio includes more than 300 patents and applications for the economic production of isobutanol, process innovations and downstream product applications. Further detailed information on Gevo’s Intellectual Property Portfolio can be found on the Company’s Website at www.gevo.com.
About Gevo
Gevo is converting existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to make renewable building block products for the chemical and fuel industries. The Company plans to convert renewable raw materials into isobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly integrated on a “drop in” basis into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmental and economic benefits. Gevo is committed to a sustainable biobased economy that meets society’s needs for plentiful food and clean air and water. For more information, visit www.gevo.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements that are not purely statements of historical fact, and can sometimes be identified by our use of terms such as “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “estimate,” “future,” “strive” and similar words. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Gevo and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2010, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Gevo.