Companies to provide update on their multiyear collaboration for the discovery of new insect control solutions
Rehovot, Israel and Davis, California – April 27, 2015 – Evogene Ltd. (NYSE, TASE: EVGN), a leading company for the improvement of crop productivity and economics for the food, feed and biofuel industries, and Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBI), (NASDAQ: MBII), a leading provider of bio-based pest management and plant health products for the agriculture, turf and ornamental and water treatment markets, today announced their respective Chief Executive Officers, Ofer Haviv and Pam Marrone, will participate in the ‘Profiling Tomorrow’s Ag Solutions’ panel discussion at AgriVest 2015, the Israeli Agritech Investment Event. The panel discussion will take place on April 27th at 11:30 AM Israel Time in Wix Auditorium at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel. The panel will be moderated by Eyal Lipetz-Eliassi, Israel Country Manager & Innovation-Based Growth Leader, DuPont. Additional panel members include Sam Fiorello, COO, Danforth Plant Science Center & President, Bio-Research & Development Growth Park; Barry J. Schindler, Co-Chair Global Patent Prosecution Group, GreenbergTraurig; and Alexander Wiegelmann, VP M&A/Head of Transactions, KWS SAAT AG.
Marrone will provide perspective on the role of bio-based pesticides in helping growers strengthen their integrated pest management programs, improve plant health, boost yields and increase profitability. As part of the panel discussion, Evogene will provide insight on its strategic collaborations with some of the world’s leading agricultural companies, particularly in the area of improved seed traits development, as well as its more recent research and development efforts for novel crop protection solutions.The two companies will also provide an update on their previously announced multiyear collaborative agreement targeting the joint discovery of novel modes of biological action for insect control, followed by the development and commercialization of new insect control products by each of the companies. “The unique partnership with MBI has brought together two very unique capabilities in our industry today- MBI’s expertise in microbial-based solutions for pest control and plant health, and Evogene’scomputational gene discovery capabilities,” said Ofer Haviv, President and CEO of Evogene. “Only a few months into the collaborative work plan, we have already completed the selection process, with the first set of candidate microbes showing high efficacy in testing. These microbial candidates will form the key targets for the upcoming gene discovery round which will be conducted utilizing Evogene’s proprietary computational platforms.” “This is an exciting time for agtech as there is an explosion of innovation all along the food chain from farm to fork,” said Pam Marrone, CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations. “Collaboration is critical to driving innovation and we are very pleased with the results of our partnership with Evogene. We are making good progress towards developing novel modes of action for insect control as our collaboration is enabling us to leverage our discovery and development strategy to explore an even wider range of microbes with novel insecticidal genes.”
About Evogene Ltd.:
Evogene (NYSE, TASE: EVGN) is a leading company for the improvement of crop productivity and economics for the food, feed and biofuel industries. The Company has strategic collaborations with worldleading agricultural companies to develop improved seed traits in relation to yield and a-biotic stress (such as tolerance to drought), and biotic stress (such as resistance to disease and nematodes), in key crops as corn, soybean, wheat and rice, and is also focused on the research and development of newproducts for crop protection (such as weed control). In addition, the Company has a wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Evofuel, developing seeds for second generation feedstock for biodiesel. For more information, please visit www.evogene.com.
About Marrone Bio Innovations
Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBII) is a leading provider of bio-based pest management and plant health products for the agriculture, turf and ornamental and water treatment markets. Our effective and environmentally responsible solutions help customers operate more sustainably while controlling pests, improving plant health, and increasing crop yields. We have a proprietary discovery process, a rapid development platform, and a robust pipeline of pest management and plant health product candidates. At Marrone Bio Innovations we are dedicated to pioneering better biopesticides that support a better tomorrow for users around the globe. For more information, please visit www.marronebio.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Portions of this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements,” and assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”), Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Any such forward-looking statements are made within the “safe-harbor” protections of the PSLRA, should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we are under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any responsibility to, update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this filing include those regarding implementing our business strategy, expectations regarding our sales team and driving sales of our products. Such forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this release and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some beyond our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks include adverse weather conditions and seasonality that may affect sales, failure of customers to adopt our products, the high level of competition in the market for pest management products, inability to maintain and further establish successful relationships with third-party distributors, the failure of our third-party distributors to sell to end users and uncertainty surrounding our compliance with our financial reporting obligations. Additional information that could lead to material changes in our performance is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Media Contact:
Karen Mazor, Evogene
Director, Public and Investor Relations
T: +972-54-2288 039
karen.mazor@evogene.com
Cory Ziskind
ICR
646-277-1232
Cory.Ziskind@icrinc.com