BASF and Evogene announce multiyear collaboration for the development of novel insecticides
29 May 2018 - 8:00PM
BASF, one of the world’s leading chemical companies, and Evogene
Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE:EVGN), a leading biotechnology company
developing novel products for life science markets, announced today
a new collaboration focusing on the development of novel
insecticides based on new binding areas (Site-of-Action or ‘SoA’)
on key insecticidal target proteins. The parties also announced
that the collaboration achieved its first project milestone, with
the joint nomination of a set of novel SoAs, discovered by Evogene
that will advance to the discovery phase of relevant bioactive
compounds.
In the initial phase of the collaboration, using
their strong background in computational methods, Evogene has
developed a smart process to identify potential novel compounds
that act on new proteins and binding sites.
“Insecticides are essential for controlling
insect damage and infestations that affect public health and
increase the quality and quantity of crops. I am excited that we
have achieved our first milestone towards the discovery and
development of new insecticides,” said Eran Kosover, Executive Vice
President and General Manager of the Ag-Chemicals division at
Evogene Ltd. “This marks an important step in establishing
Evogene's Ag-Chemicals division entry into Insecticides, and an
important extension of our relationship with BASF, a world leader
in agricultural solutions.”
“Finding effective chemistries that have
increased selectivity between harmful insects and non-target
species is one of the main innovation drivers in our industry,”
said Harold Bastiaans, Vice President Global R&D Insecticides,
BASF Crop Protection. “Evogene’s technology platform, in
combination with our leading expertise in research and development
of new active ingredients, will allow us to speed up the discovery
of novel, effective and safe solutions for our customers.”
In the next phase of this collaboration, Evogene
will utilize its Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform
for the discovery of the relevant chemistry to address the new
SoAs. Compounds discovered by Evogene will then enter BASF’s
insecticide discovery platform for insect efficacy screening and
testing to determine the chemistry’s ability to modulate the
respective target proteins.
Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and CEO stated:
“We are very proud to announce this additional collaboration with
BASF. We believe this collaboration has the potential to bring to
market new insecticides that will provide much needed solutions for
farmers. Furthermore, this collaboration and the results achieved
demonstrate the predictive capabilities of Evogene’s CPB platform.
We are confident that this collaboration will lead to new products
for a sustainable future.”
The financial terms of the collaboration have
not been disclosed.
About BASF’s Crop Protection
division: With a rapidly growing population, the world is
increasingly dependent on our ability to develop and maintain
sustainable agriculture and healthy environments. BASF’s Crop
Protection division works with farmers, agricultural professionals,
pest management experts and others to help make this possible. With
their cooperation, BASF is able to sustain an active R&D
pipeline, an innovative portfolio of products and services, and
teams of experts in the lab and in the field to support customers
in making their businesses succeed. In 2017, BASF’s Crop Protection
division generated sales of €5.7 billion. For more information,
please visit us at www.agriculture.basf.com or on any of our social
media channels.
About Evogene:
Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE:EVGN) is a leading biotechnology
company developing novel products for major life science markets
through the use of a unique predictive biology platform
incorporating deep scientific understandings and advanced
computational technologies. This platform is utilized by the
Company to discover and develop innovative ag-chemical,
ag-biological and ag-seed products (GM and non GM), and by two
subsidiaries; Evofuel, focused on castor seeds, and Biomica,
focused on human microbiome therapeutics. Through its
collaborations with world-leading agricultural companies such as
BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta, Evogene has licensed
genes, small molecules and microbes to partners under milestone and
royalty bearing agreements. For more information, please visit
www.evogene.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking
statements" relating to future events. These statements
may be identified by words such as "may", "could",
“expects”, "intends", “anticipates”,
“plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of
similar meaning. Such statements are based on current
expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions,
describe opinions about future events, involve certain
risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are
not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future
results, performance or achievements of Evogene may differ
materially from what is expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of
factors, many of which beyond Evogene's
control, including, without limitation, those risk
factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the
appropriate securities authority. Evogene disclaims any
obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements
to reflect future events or developments or changes in
expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
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BASF |
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Evogene |
Jasmin
Tortop |
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Nir Zalik |
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(Israel) |
Tel. +49 621 60
28412 |
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Tel. +972 8 931
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jasmin.tortop@basf.com |
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IR@evogene.com |
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Vivian
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PCG Investor
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(USA) |
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Tel.: +1
212-554-5482 |
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vivian@pcgadvisory.com |
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