Biotalys NV and Novozymes A/S announced the successful outcome of the feasibility study for Evoca™*, Biotalys' first proprietary biocontrol product candidate. Novozymes obtained proof of concept for a new manufacturing process that offers potential significant cost of goods and scaling advantages, thereby broadening the commercial potential of Evoca as a novel biofungicide. Evoca is Biotalys' first innovative protein-based biofungicide developed on the company's AGROBODY Foundry™ platform.

This technology platform allows Biotalys to discover and develop novel biological food protection solutions that combine high efficacy, consistency and safety, with new modes of action to fight resistance. Evoca helps sustainably control economically important fungal diseases such as Botrytis and powdery mildew in fruits and vegetables. Demonstrating strong performance across more than 600 independent and company-driven field and greenhouse trials across multiple regions, pathogens and crops, Evoca is expected to obtain approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in early 2023.

Since entering into a partnership in June 2022, Novozymes has explored additional routes for the upscaling and production of the bioactive protein of Evoca by using production hosts additional to those currently used by Biotalys. Novozymes uncovered new ways to scale production and efficiency that could help Biotalys drive broader commercial reach for Evoca, both in the preliminary U.S. and E.U. fruits and vegetables markets currently in the commercialization plan, as well as in additional geographies, crops and diseases. Subject to confirmation of commercial scale-up, field trial performance and regulatory procedures, these results may help reduce time to a commercially attractive version of Evoca.