Plant Health Care®? announced COFEPRIS registration and pending commercial launch of the biological nematode control product PHC68949 in Mexico. Highlights - PHC68949 is a novel product that amplifies a plant's natural defense pathways to provide protection within the rhizosphere to protect plant roots from parasitic nematodes, promoting crop yield and harvest quality.

The Company plans a limited launch of PHC68949 in the second half of 2024 to build grower and distributor awareness, followed by a full commercial launch through its most important distributors in 2025. The brand name will be announced closer to the launch date. PHC68949 will initially be applied via drench and foliar applications on tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and other Solanaceae crops as well as cucumbers and other Cucurbit crops in Mexico.

As a next generation bionematicide, PHC68949 increases plant health and yield across a wide range of commercial crops. Results from field studies confirm efficacy from foliar applications of PHC68949 is comparable to synthetic chemical nematicides and superior to current biological products. PHC68949 provides growers with a low use rate, environmentally friendly option with a novel mode of action to displace established synthetic chemical nematicides and improve crop yield and harvest quality.

PHC689 49 provides growers with consistent performance and convenience as it does not have label limitations commonly associated with synthetic chemical nematicides and is exempt from Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) restrictions, providing greater access to high value export markets. Product launch will focus on control of southern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) in Solanaceae and Cucurbit crops, with additional claims on other crops and nematode species to follow in the future. The Company submitted the PHC68949 application for regulatory review to the Federal Committee for Protection from Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) in September 2023 based on a comprehensive data package.

The regulatory process in Mexico for agricultural products involves a detailed and comprehensive review of standard safety and performance data including replicated small plot field trials to confirm product efficacy. PHC68949 is a novel product based on the Company's innovative PREtec technology platform. Derived from natural proteins, PREtec is an environmentally friendly technology which stimulates plant defense and pathogen resistance mechanisms within plants.

Years of research, field testing, and commercial experience have confirmed that PREtec products deliver improved crop growth, harvest quality, and grower profitability. Compared with alternative biological products, PHC68949 brings highly consistent product efficacy across a broad spectrum of application and environmental conditions and is compatible with fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides in tank-mix and sequential application systems. PHC68949 has a two-year shelf-life with no special requirements for storing or handling, which allows greater flexibility within the distribution channel and ease of on-farm application.