Biotalys and Novozymes announce successful Evoca™ feasibility study

Biotalys (Euronext - BTLS), an Agricultural Technology (AgTech) company protecting crops and food with protein-based biocontrol solutions, and Novozymes, a world leader in biotech solutions including Ag biologicals, announced the successful outcome of the feasibility study for Evoca™*, Biotalys’ first proprietary biocontrol product candidate. Novozymes obtained proof of concept for a new manufacturing process that offers potential significant cost of goods and scaling advantages, thereby broadening the commercial potential of Evoca as a novel biofungicide.

″Thanks to its leading protein fermentation expertise, Novozymes has been able to further increase the efficiency of production for Evoca,″ said Patrice Sellès, the CEO of Biotalys. ″We will now work on a deeper partnership with Novozymes and explore strategic supply and commercialization agreements for the future generation of Evoca while continuing our ongoing internal development activities.″

Evoca is Biotalys’ first innovative protein-based biofungicide developed on the company’s AGROBODY Foundry™ platform. This technology platform allows Biotalys to discover and develop novel biological food protection solutions that combine high efficacy, consistency and safety, with new modes of action to fight resistance. Evoca helps sustainably control economically important fungal diseases such as Botrytis and powdery mildew in fruits and vegetables. Demonstrating strong performance across 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) in early 2023.

Since entering into a partnership in June 2022, Novozymes has explored additional routes for the upscaling and production of the bioactive protein of Evoca by using production hosts additional to those currently used by Biotalys. Novozymes uncovered new ways to scale production and efficiency that could help Biotalys drive broader commercial reach for Evoca, both in the preliminary U.S. and E.U. fruits and vegetables markets currently in the commercialization plan, as well as in additional geographies, crops and diseases. Subject to confirmation of commercial scale-up, field trial performance and regulatory procedures, these results may help reduce time to a commercially attractive version of Evoca.

″The results of this feasibility study with Biotalys will help pave the way for more cost-efficient, sustainable solutions for growers around the world,″ noted Thomas Batchelor, Vice President, Agriculture Marketing and Strategy of Novozymes. ″Now one step closer to large-scale production, Biotalys and Novozymes have successfully collaborated to provide the industry and growers new ways to safely control damaging pests and diseases and deliver our shared goal of providing highly effective solutions so growers can sustainably feed the world.″

Successfully achieving this key milestone, the two companies are now entering into the next phase of their partnership and will explore strategic supply and commercialization agreements for the future generation of Evoca. Novozymes and Biotalys will also explore an R&D collaboration beyond Evoca to address the needs for effective and more sustainable protein-based biocontrols in novel markets and indications through both Novozymes’ solution portfolio and Biotalys’s pipeline of product candidates.

* Evoca™: Pending Registration. This product is not currently registered for sale or use in the United States, the European Union, or elsewhere and is not being offered for sale.