Syngenta and Lavie Bio Announce Partnership to Discover and Develop Novel Bio-Insecticide

Agreement reinforces both companies' commitment to developing and bringing innovative biological solutions to farmers

BASEL, Switzerland and REHOVOT, Israel, Feb. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Syngenta Crop Protection, a leader in agricultural innovation, and Lavie Bio Ltd., a leading ag-biologicals company and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq: EVGN) (TASE: EVGN), today announced an agreement for the discovery and development of new biological insecticidal solutions. The collaboration will leverage Lavie Bio's unique technology platform to rapidly identify and optimize bio-insecticide candidates, as well as Syngenta's extensive global research, development and commercialization capabilities.

Insects pose a major challenge to the health of crops worldwide, directly injuring plants as they feed on the plant's stems, fruit and roots, as well as indirectly by transmitting bacterial, viral and fungal infections to crops - costing the global economy an estimated $70 billion a year, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization^[1]. Experts predict such losses will worsen with global warming widening the spread of invasive insect risk and rising resistance to available insecticides.

"Syngenta is a leader in advancing sustainable agriculture and we are thrilled to collaborate with Lavie Bio in biocontrol innovation and bring novel modes of action in the growers' toolbox to combat insect resistance," said Camilla Corsi, Global Head of Research at Syngenta Crop Protection. "This collaboration underscores Syngenta's commitment to collaborating with cutting-edge agricultural technology companies, merging digital and experimental approaches to accelerate and diversify innovation."

"We're excited to collaborate with Syngenta, a world leader in agricultural innovation," said Amit Noam, CEO of Lavie Bio. "Both companies share a mutual commitment to sustainable farming, and together, we aim to develop an impactful bio-insecticide product. Lavie Bio's unique computational capabilities and Syngenta's vast experience in developing and commercializing innovative products make this partnership significant. We enthusiastically look forward to joining forces to achieve the mutual task of insect management in agriculture."

About Syngenta Crop Protection

Syngenta Crop Protection is a leader in agricultural innovation, bringing breakthrough technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow productively and sustainably. We offer a leading portfolio of crop protection solutions for plant and soil health, as well as digital solutions that transform the decision-making capabilities of farmers. Our 17,900 employees serve to advance agriculture in more than 90 countries around the world. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and is part of the Syngenta Group. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Syngenta, http://www.twitter.com/SyngentaUS and on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/syngenta

Contact

Michelle Ng
Media Relations, Syngenta Group
michelle.ng@syngenta.com

About Lavie Bio Ltd.:

Lavie Bio, a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd., aims to improve food quality, sustainability, and agriculture productivity through the introduction of microbiome-based ag-biological products. Lavie Bio utilizes a proprietary computational predictive platform, the BDD platform, powered by Evogene's proprietary MicroBoost AI tech-engine, harnessing the power of big data, artificial intelligence, and advanced informatics, for the discovery, optimization and development of bio-stimulant and bio-pesticide products.

For more information, please visit www.lavie-bio.com.

About Evogene Ltd.:

Evogene (Nasdaq: EVGN, TASE: EVGN) is a computational biology company aiming to revolutionize the development of life-science based products by utilizing cutting edge technologies to increase the probability of success while reducing development time and cost. Evogene established three unique tech-engines - MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI and GeneRator AI – leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence and incorporating deep multidisciplinary understanding in life sciences. Each tech-engine is focused on the discovery and development of products based on one of the following core components: microbes (MicroBoost AI), small molecules (ChemPass AI), and genetic elements (GeneRator AI).

Evogene uses its tech-engines to develop products through subsidiaries and strategic partnerships. Evogene's subsidiaries currently utilize the tech-engines to develop human microbiome-based therapeutics by Biomica, ag-biologicals by Lavie Bio, ag-chemicals by AgPlenus, medical cannabis products by Canonic and castor varieties, for the biofuel and other industries, by Casterra.

For more information, please visit: www.evogene.com.

Contacts

Rachel Pomerantz Gerber
Head of Investor Relations at Evogene
rachel.pomerantz@evogene.com
Tel: +972-8-9311901

Lavie Bio and Evogene's Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could", "expects", "hopes" "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "scheduled", "estimates", "demonstrates" or words of similar meaning. For example, Syngenta, Evogene and its subsidiaries are using forward-looking statement in this press release when they discuss Lavie Bio's ability to rapidly identify and optimize bio-insecticide candidates, the ability of the parties to bring novel modes of action in the growers' toolbox to combat insect resistance and to develop impactful bio-insecticide product. 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 and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, the current war between Israel and Hamas and any worsening of the situation in Israel such as further mobilizations or escalation in the northern border of Israel, and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authority. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field-trials and pre-clinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions.

Syngenta's Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as 'expect', 'would', 'will', 'potential', 'plans', 'prospects', 'estimated', 'aiming', 'on track' and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or commodity prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.

^[1] https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/945133/lavie_bio.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1947468/Evogene.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2343329/Syngenta.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/syngenta-and-lavie-bio-announce-partnership-to-discover-and-develop-novel-bio-insecticide-302065937.html