22nd Century Group and KeyGene Launch Advanced Cannabis Technology Platform for Accelerated Development of New Varieties of H...
11 February 2021 - 2:00AM
22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII), a leading
plant-based, biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm
reduction, very low nicotine content tobacco, and hemp/cannabis
research, announced today that it has developed and launched a new,
cutting-edge technology platform that will enable the Company and
its strategic partners to quickly identify and incorporate
commercially valuable traits of hemp/cannabis plants to create new,
stable hemp/cannabis lines. The platform incorporates a suite of
proprietary molecular tools and a large library of genomic markers
and gene-trait correlations. The platform was developed in
collaboration with researchers at KeyGene, a global leader in plant
research involving high-value genetic traits and increased crop
yields.
“This is a major breakthrough. Quickly and easily identifying
the genes responsible for specific traits in a plant is a powerful
tool for 22nd Century Group and the hemp/cannabis industry as a
whole,” said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century
Group. “That is why we are even now beginning discussions to
license this platform to strategic partners to help them improve
their plant breeding techniques and to optimize their hemp/cannabis
cultivars. We continue to make great advancements through our
partnership with KeyGene, and this newly developed molecular
breeding platform has the potential to result in exponential growth
for the Company’s revenues and create new value opportunities for
our stakeholders, including shareholders.”
“Using traditional breeding techniques, it typically takes at
least eight to ten years to develop new varieties of hemp/cannabis
plants that consistently express important traits,” said Juan
Sanchez Tamburrino, Ph.D., vice president of research and
development at 22nd Century Group. “Our new molecular breeding
platform can dramatically reduce our development time for new
high-value varieties of hemp/cannabis and allows 22nd Century
scientists to identify plant lines that carry high levels of major
therapeutic cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD),
cannabichromene (CBC), and other minor therapeutic cannabinoids,
like cannabidivarin (CBDV) and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV).”
Demonstrating how this technology can be used, 22nd Century and
KeyGene scientists can now accelerate the selection of specific
traits yielding novel cannabinoid profiles. For example, the team
was able to select specific markers that predict the gender of
hemp/cannabis plants with an astounding 99.6% accuracy.
Using this new breeding technology, 22nd Century has already
characterized millions of high-value single nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs). SNPs are molecular markers or guideposts
within a plant’s genome that indicate important variations in
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences. Targeting these newly
identified SNPs, 22nd Century was able to locate and isolate
specific sections of genetic code from genome assemblies present in
the Company’s state-of-the-art hemp/cannabis bioinformatics
database. 22nd Century’s bioinformatics database continues to grow
and already contains hundreds of hemp/cannabis genomes and
thousands expression datapoints across a wide array of
hemp/cannabis varieties and phenotypes. The ability to identify
specific genetic variations allows researchers to isolate
high-value traits, like increased CBD or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
production, and then introduce those traits in new plant lines
using modern plant breeding techniques, including trait tracking
using molecular marker profiles and the Company’s proprietary
accelerated breeding pipeline.
Since reporting third quarter earnings, 22nd Century has
refocused its hemp/cannabis strategy to target the upstream
segments of the cannabinoid value chain, in particular, in the
areas of plant biotechnology research, gene modification and
engineering, modern plant breeding and development, and extraction.
The Company intends to build upon its core strengths in the plant
science and ingredient value chain and is in advanced discussions
with operational partners that will enable it to offer
comprehensive commercial breeding, cultivation, and extract
purification services utilizing its proprietary hemp/cannabis
plants in development. The Company will continue to focus on and
ensure the accelerated delivery of valuable, commercial plant lines
and technology, and related intellectual property for the life
science, consumer product, and pharmaceutical markets.
About 22nd Century Group, Inc.22nd Century
Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII) is a leading plant biotechnology
company focused on technologies that alter the level of nicotine in
tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis
plants through genetic engineering, gene-editing, and modern plant
breeding. 22nd Century’s primary mission in tobacco is to reduce
the harm caused by smoking through the Company’s proprietary
reduced nicotine content tobacco cigarettes – containing 95% less
nicotine than conventional cigarettes. The Company’s primary
mission in hemp/cannabis is to develop and commercialize
proprietary hemp/cannabis plants with valuable cannabinoid profiles
and desirable agronomic traits.
Learn more at xxiicentury.com, on
Twitter @_xxiicentury and on LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking StatementsExcept for historical
information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions
contained in this press release are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements typically contain terms such as
“anticipate,” “believe,” “consider,” “continue,” “could,”
“estimate,” “expect,” “explore,” “foresee,” “goal,” “guidance,”
“intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,”
“preliminary,” “probable,” “project,” “promising,” “seek,”
“should,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions. Actual results
might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in
forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially are set forth in “Risk Factors”
in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 11, 2020
and in its subsequently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. All
information provided in this release is as of the date hereof, and
the Company assumes no obligation to and does not intend to update
these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Investor Relations & Media
Contact:Mei KuoDirector, Communications & Investor
Relations22nd Century Group, Inc.(716)
300-1221mkuo@xxiicentury.com
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