9th Sep 2019 13:05
(Alliance News) - Plant Health Care PLC on Monday said it has signed an agreement with CSL Behring's fermentation facility to scale up production of its PREtec peptides ahead of its commercial launch in the US and Brazil.
CSL Behring, whose parent company CSL Ltd is listed in Australia, has a fermentation facility at Pennsylvania State University in the north east US.
The project will last less than 12 months, Plant Health said, and it will help optimise production methods and focus on producing initial commercial qualities of PHC279, a product designed to fight soybean rust. This is a fungal disease that reduces soybean yields.
Following successful trials in August, the company said it plans to commercialise its PREtec products, starting with PHC279, to markets worth more than USD5 billion.
PHC279 comes from natural proteins and encourages the plant to defend itself. Testing found that following application of PHC279, there was a 16% increase in soybean yield, controlling the effects of the disease even in areas facing "heavy disease pressure".
Executive Chair & Interim Chief Executive Christopher Richards said: "We are delighted to have concluded this agreement with an outstanding institution. The pilot plant further builds our first-class capability to commercialise PHC279 directly to distribution in the USA and Brazil. Industry response in Brazil to our recent excellent field trials results has been most encouraging as we move towards the first product launches."
Plant Health Care shares were trading 2.5% higher at 7.68 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.
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