In preparation for exiting the biopolymers business and embracing plant biotechnology, Metabolix (Cambridge, Massachusetts / USA; www.metabolix.com) has embarked on a restructuring scheme that will see it rebrand itself as Yield10 Bioscience – see Plasteurope.com of 10.06.2016. Rather than spin off the crop science business as suggested earlier, the company said it will regroup around this nucleus after slashing its workforce by 45 jobs, almost all in the polymers segment. If a sale of biopolymers is unsuccessful it said it will consider licensing all or parts of the business’s inventory, equipment and intellectual property.

Metabolix made no mention of what would happen to the non-binding Memorandum of Understanding signed in March of this year with South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang (Seoul; www.cj.co.kr/cj-en/index) for the strategic commercial manufacture of speciality PHAs – see Plasteurope.com of 01.04.2016. Presumably this would fall by the wayside along with any other forward-looking plans including the Yield10 plant biotech programme, for which the company apparently has great hopes.

Additional capital resources are being sought to support the business transition, Metabolix said; however, if this is not successful, it will be forced to close down altogether and liquidate the remaining assets. The company has been struggling financially of late, reporting a loss of nearly USD 24m in 2015, after dropping USD 29.5m in 2014.