Eden Research Regulatory News (EDEN)

26 April 2019

Eden Research plc

("Eden" or "Company")

Italy grants "emergency use" authorisation for Cedroz to meet grower demands

Eden Research plc (AIM: EDEN), the AIM listed company that develops and supplies breakthrough biopesticide products and natural microencapsulation technologies to the global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries, is pleased to announce that its commercial partner, Eastman Chemical Company ("Eastman"), has received a 120 day "emergency use" authorisation for Eden's nematicide formulation, marketed as Cedroz™ by Eastman, from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. Such "emergency" authorisations are allowed by EU member states when local regulatory authorities judge that they are needed in the local market in order to meet the requirements of growers in the absence of suitable commercially-available alternatives. During this period, Italy and other member states will continue to process Eastman's request for the authorised use and sale of Cedroz following Malta's earlier authorisation. 

Cedroz is an innovative and sustainable solution designed to fight plant parasitic nematodes, pests that are known to cause severe damage to crops globally in both open field and greenhouse horticulture, resulting in significant yield losses and increasing growers' costs.

In line with consumer demand and a policy push for products that support sustainable agriculture with greatly reduced or no pesticide residues, Cedroz is an attractive alternative for farmers looking to fight plant parasitic nematodes in a safer and more sustainable way. Unlike many other products, Cedroz will have no set maximum residue level and a zero-day pre-harvest interval, thereby allowing applications right up to harvest, when required. 

As previously announced, Malta has recently authorised the use of Cedroz on a wide range of crops, including cucumbers, courgettes, melons, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes and strawberries marking the initial authorisation for Cedroz in the EU. Following the authorisation by Malta, the concerned Member States ("cMS") must grant their individual approvals for the sale and use of Cedroz within their jurisdictions. The pending approvals will cover Spain and Italy, for outdoor uses and will also cover France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as Spain and Italy, for professional greenhouse uses. Once approved, Cedroz will be the first of Eden's formulations to be sold and used in the United Kingdom, where the company is headquartered.

Sean Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Eden, said: "Following Eden's initial investment in the formulation and patent protection of this important product, Eastman has invested significant resource over the past three years in the further development of Cedroz, and it is pleasing to see our collective efforts coming to fruition.

"Traditional crop protection products are increasingly coming under threat from global regulatory pressures based upon the potential impact these products may have on the environment. There is significant and increasing demand for biopesticides as alternatives to conventional pesticide treatments due to their health and environmental safety profiles. We are looking forward to working with Eastman to capitalise on this growing demand and helping them to launch Cedroz in a number of new territories, including the UK.

"The Italian market represents a significant opportunity for Cedroz and, as such, it is great to see the regulatory authorities respond positively by granting this emergency authorisation. This also verifies that there is a limited number of alternative products available to tackle nematodes in the Italian market and consequently growers need new tools to help control this damaging pest on a range of important high value crops."

Guy Van Den Bossche, General Manager Crop Protection at Eastman, said: "This 120 day "emergency use" authorisation is a great early opportunity that allows growers to upscale Cedroz in real growing conditions and confirm the numerous successful trials done during the development of the product in Italy as a bigger market looking for alternative sustainable solutions to cope with the growing nematode issue."

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Notes:

Eden Research is a technology development and commercialisation company with intellectual property and expertise in encapsulation, terpenes and environmentally friendly technologies to provide naturally occurring solutions for the global agrochemicals, animal health, and consumer product industries.

Eden's encapsulation technology harnesses the biocidal efficacy of naturally occurring chemicals produced by plants (terpenes) and can also be used with both natural and synthetic compounds to enhance their performance and ease-of-use. The technology uses yeast cells that are a by-product of numerous commercial production processes to deliver a slow release of natural compounds for agricultural and non-agricultural uses. Terpenes are already widely used in the food flavouring, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Historically, terpenes have had limited commercial use in the agrochemical sector due to their volatility, phytotoxicity and poor solubility. Eden's platform encapsulation technology provides a unique, environmentally friendly solution to these problems and enables terpenes to be used as effective, low-risk agrochemicals.

Eden is developing these technologies through innovative research and a series of commercial production, marketing and distribution partnerships.

The Company has a number of patents and a pipeline of products at differing stages of development targeting specific areas of the global agrochemicals industry. To date, the Company has invested in the region of £13m in developing and protecting its intellectual property and seeking regulatory approval for products that rely upon the Company's technologies. Revenues earned by the Company have been modest whilst the Company has concentrated on securing patent protection for its intellectual property, gaining regulatory approvals, identifying suitable industrial partners, and entering into commercial agreements. 

In May 2013, the three actives that comprise Eden's first commercial product, Mevalone, were approved as new ingredients for use in plant protection products. This represented a major milestone in the commercialisation of Eden's technology and is a significant accomplishment for any company. To illustrate this point, one should note that in all of 2013, Eden's approvals represented 3 of only 10 new active ingredients approved by the EC.

Mevalone has been authorised for sale in Kenya, Malta, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, France, Cyprus, Albania and Portugal.

Eden was admitted to trading on AIM on 11 May 2012 and trades under the symbol EDEN.

For more information about Eden, please visit: www.edenresearch.com.