Bristol-Myers Squibb has partnered with Ambrx for the development and commercialisation of derivatives of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21) for the potential treatment of type 2 diabetes and derivatives of the hormone relaxin for the potential treatment of heart failure. These novel biologics were developed using Ambrx’s ReCODE™ (reconstituting chemically orthogonal directed engineering) platform technology, which modifies native proteins with novel amino acids in order to engineer enhanced versions. The deal highlights the growing interest of big pharma in engineered protein therapeutics.