The parties will identify and design probiotic bacteria that produce highly sustainable quantities of microbial metabolites, known to improve human health and vitality
Boston, USA and Rehovot, Israel – February 6th, 2024 – Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq: EVGN, TASE: EVGN), a leading computational biology company targeting to revolutionize life-science product development across multiple market segments, and Verb Biotics LLC., a microbiome health ingredient company whose mission is to improve human health, entered into a collaboration agreement that will focus on the development of new strains of probiotic bacteria, which produce a highly sustainable quantity of microbial metabolites that improve human health and vitality. The collaboration will focus on identifying and enhancing the currently unknown genetic pathways in microbes that support the production of novel metabolites, using Evogene’s MicroBoost AI tech-engine and Verb Biotics’ extensive accumulated knowledge in the field of the microbiome.
The probiotics market is expected to double and reach approximately $114 billion by 2031 from approximately $55 billion in 2022[i]. The increased awareness of the microbiome, the bacteria living in and on the human body, has sparked significant interest in microbiome products based on supporting microbes for a healthier lifestyle. This collaboration aligns with the expanding importance of global microbiome research.
The collaboration generates excellent synergy by combining Evogene’s knowledge in bacterial-based product development utilizing its tech-engine MicroBoost AI with Verb Biotics’ access to the genomes of various microbial strains that support the production of microbial metabolites vital for human health.
The financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
“Partnering with Evogene equips Verb Biotics with a powerful edge to revolutionize microbiome-driven health solutions. By leveraging Evogene’s technology, we further streamline and de-risk our innovation pathway, prioritizing function-first approaches for optimal microbiome health”, says Noah Zimmerman, CTO at Verb Biotics.
Eyal Ronen, EVP of Business Development at Evogene, noted, “This collaboration underscores Evogene’s strategic commitment to leveraging our state-of-the-art AI tech-engines to new areas and opens doors for additional sectors in the life sciences industry to benefit from our powerful technology. Together with Verb Biotics, we aim to drive substantial progress in probiotics innovation and to stretch the boundaries of what can be achieved in this field.”
About Verb Biotics:
Verb Biotics is a microbiome health ingredient company whose mission is to improve human health. Verb “biotics” ingredients are developed to deliver specific metabolites with targeted mechanisms of action to address functional health categories such as foundational gut microbiome health, gut-brain health, and healthy metabolism. From discovery to scale, the company applies science, biotechnology, and intentional development to deliver probiotics, postbiotics, and synbiotics for the business-to-business functional food, beverage, and dietary supplement industries.
To learn more, please visit us at www.verbbiotics.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
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.
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, Verb Biotics, Evogene and its subsidiaries are using forward-looking statement in this press release when they discuss the development of new strains of probiotic bacteria, which produce a high sustainable quantity of microbial metabolites that improve human health and vitality, the expected growth of the probiotics market, and the expanding importance of the global microbiome research. 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, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the applicable securities authority. 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.
Contacts
Rachel Pomerantz Gerber
Head of Investor Relations at Evogene
Tel: +972-8-9311901
[i] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-probiotics-market-size-worth-075000774.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACfgMfcGAd9Vb25h7wBya_9UoIBrvxPf-M_28cco_CEOoBNp4NNeiBr5PK4MLAvxvrsrp3saUS0HQEnfb_bs_bRaM18fgQl5KaqrFUoiBEOB9csgNepnnEmTexxUU8wUWRventc4qyBfoiXoQsZmhn64WZLY6DqlWJEchD4bJxHm