Biotech firm Amyris files for bankruptcy to improve liquidity position

Biotech firm Amyris Inc has filed for bankruptcy in a US court and has secured financing to support its day-to-day operations, according to Reuters.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy has been filed by the company, which is planning to sell its consumer brands to improve the company's liquidity position.

Amyris said its entities outside the US are not included in the bankruptcy proceedings.

In a filing with the Delaware bankruptcy court, the company listed estimated assets in the range of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities in the range of $1 billon to $10 billion.

"Restructuring is intended to improve the Company's cost structure, capital structure, and liquidity position while streamlining Amyris' business portfolio to focus on its core competencies in R&D...," the company said.

In June, Amyris said it was cutting jobs to reduce costs and appointed Han Kieftenbeld as new interim CEO, following the resignation of John Melo.

Amyris had also initiated a "strategic transformation program" in June and secured a term loan facility of up to $50 million.

Amyris is a science and technology firm for the research, development and production of sustainable ingredients for the clean health, beauty, flavors and fragrances markets.

The firm says it uses an “impressive array of exclusive technologies, including state-of-the-art machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence”.