Canonic Announces Professor Itamar Grotto Joining its Board of Directors

Professor Grotto is a world-renowned expert in public health; As former Associate Director General at the Israeli Ministry of Health he led the medicalization reform of cannabis in Israel

Rehovot, Israel – February 16, 2022 – Canonic Ltd., focused on the development of medical-grade cannabis products and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN), announced today that Professor Itamar Grotto will be joining its Board of Directors. Professor Grotto, former Associate Director General at the Israeli Ministry of Health, was responsible for the medicalization reform of Cannabis in Israel and oversaw the Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency. He was also the Director of Israel’s Public Health Services and a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization, on behalf of the State of Israel.

The addition of Professor Grotto to Canonic’s board is expected to support key objectives of the company, including the development and commercialization of medical cannabis products targeting specific indications under Canonic’s Precise program[1].

Professor Itamar Grotto stated, “After many years of professional and regulatory work with the medical cannabis industry in both Israel and worldwide, I am very pleased to join Canonic, a company that has the potential to bring better products to cannabis patients. Recognizing that the cannabis plant offers significant medicinal advantages, I believe Canonic’s exacting approach to the plant’s genetics for medical indications is unique and important to the field as a whole. I look forward to contributing my experience in the field of health and medicines in order to advance Canonic’s strategy and vision.”

Arnon Heyman, CEO of Canonic added, “On behalf of the entire team, I welcome Professor Itamar Grotto to Canonic. I am very proud that Professor Grotto accepted our invitation to join our Board and believe he will be invaluable in advancing our vision and bringing us to our next stage of development.”

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About Canonic Ltd.:

Canonic is a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN), developing medical Cannabis products utilizing a Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform. The Company’s products in development are aimed at improving active compounds yield, genetic stability and Cannabis varieties for specific medical indications. The Company’s strategy includes the development of Cannabis varieties in order to commercialize medical Cannabis products independently or through collaborations. Canonic has exclusive access to Evogene’s genomic assets and technology for the development of medical Cannabis products. For more information, please visit: https://www.canonicbio.com/.

About Evogene Ltd.:

Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN) is a leading computational biology company focused on revolutionizing product discovery and development in multiple life-science based industries, including human health and agriculture, through the use of its broadly applicable Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform.  The CPB platform, incorporating a deep understanding of biology leveraged through the power of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, has been designed to computationally discover and uniquely guide the development of life-science products based on microbes, small molecules and genetic elements.  Utilizing the CPB platform, Evogene and its subsidiaries are now advancing product pipelines for human microbiome-based therapeutics through Biomica Ltd., medical cannabis through Canonic Ltd., ag-biologicals through Lavie Bio Ltd., ag-chemicals through AgPlenus Ltd., and ag-solutions for castor oil production through Casterra Ag. Ltd.  For more information, please visit: www.evogene.com.

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”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “demonstrates”, or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene and Canonic are using forward-looking statements in this press release when they discuss Canonic’s product development efforts and commercialization plans and Professor Grotto’s contribution to these efforts. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, and 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, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with applicable securities authorities. 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.

[1] https://www.evogene.com/press_release/canonic-announces-positive-results-in-pre-clinical-studies-in-its-precise-product-program-for-medical-cannabis/