Biotalys News, Reviews & Resources

Belgian agtech company Biotalys and Danish biotech company Novozymes have entered into a partnership to expand opportunities for Evoca, Biotalys’ first proprietary biocontrol product. Novozymes will explore additional routes for the upscaling and production of the bioactive protein of Evoca, with the option of a possible commercial collaboration for a future generation of the product. Evoca is a protein-based biofungicide developed on Biotalys’ AGROBODY Foundry platform that helps control fungal diseases such as Botrytis and powdery mildew in fruits and vegetables. Following more than 600 independent and company-driven field and greenhouse trials across multiple regions, pathogens and crops, Evoca is expected to obtain approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later this year. This is expected to pave the way for the regulatory assessment of Biotalys’ pipeline of product candidates, which includes biofungicides, biobactericides and bio-insecticides based on the Biotalys AGROBODY Foundry technology platform. “We are excited to enter into this agreement with Novozymes, a global leader in biological solutions for the agricultural and other industries,” said Patrice Sellès, the CEO of Biotalys. “With its vast expertise in enzymes and protein fermentation technologies, Novozymes represents a strong partner to support the growth ambitions of Biotalys towards offering growers globally a cost efficient and effective future generation of Evoca.” “We are pleased that we are able to add significant value to Biotalys’ technology through our world leading industrial fermentation expertise to help Biotalys deliver cost efficient products to provide growers new, sustainable solutions for controlling pests,” said Thomas Batchelor, vice president, agriculture marketing and strategy at Novozymes. “We also see the Biotalys technology as potentially a good complement to our own pipeline of enzyme and microbial solutions as well as our existing commercial biocontrol portfolio.” Biotalys Biotalys is an agricultural technology company working on the protection of crops and food with protein-based biocontrol solutions and aiming to provide alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides for a more sustainable and safer food supply. Based on its AGROBODY technology platform, Biotalys is developing a pipeline of product candidates with a favorable safety profile to address key crop pests and diseases across the whole value chain, from soil to plate. Biotalys was founded in 2013 as a spin-off from the VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology). Last month, the company said in trials in grapes across vineyards in diverse climates throughout California and New York, Evoca provided preventative control of Botrytis bunch rot in grapevines. The Evoca program suppressed severity of bunch rot symptoms by approximately 73% when compared to untreated bunches, versus 54% for the rotation program with only chemical fungicides. Evoca also won the World BioProtection Award 2022 for Best Biofungicide Producta at the World BioProtection Summit in Birmingham in the UK in May.

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