Plant Impact Regulatory News (PIM)

12 Jun 2009 11:18

For release: 12 June 2009

Plant Impact plc ("Plant Impact" or the "Company") Signs R&D Collaboration Agreement with CEM Analytical Services Ltd ("CEMAS") and tecsolve (UK) Ltd ("tecsolve")

Plant Impact (LSE: PIM), a successful developer of novel pesticides and plant nutritional products, today announces that as part of an ongoing strategic review of its activities, and in light of the successful completion of the commercialisation deal with Arysta Life Science Corporation ("Arysta"), it has signed long term agreements with tecsolve and CEMAS ("Agreements").  

The Agreements, which are effective as of 1 June 2009, provide for the retention of  the services of CEMAS and tecsolve by Plant Impact. Under the terms of the Agreements Plant Impact may engage CEMAS to assist with the development of the Company's growing pipeline of products that have been developed to improve crop yields in an eco-friendly manner and tecsolve to assist with product discovery, technological appraisal and technical advice. .

The executives of Plant Impact recognised early on that they would need to make significant investments in infrastructure and employ a much larger team if they were to run all the additional trials required to generate supporting data on their products. This information has to be supplied to both the regulatory bodies and the global players that will ultimately commercialise their products. As a result, Plant Impact has reviewed its options in respect of the need to generate more data and consequently, the executives have agreed to outsource further development of Plant Impact's products to well established and respected specialist contract research organisations, and have therefore finalised these long term Agreements with CEMAS and tecsolve. 

"At Plant Impact, we possess great understanding of the biology of plant growth and the protection mechanisms that plants use against pathogens and pest infestations." commented Peter Blezard, CEO of Plant Impact. "We are also commercially orientated as evidenced by the increasing number of initial shipments we have made of our products to new customers and the global deal with Arysta on BugOil®." . 

CEMAS/tecsolve were heavily involved in the successful development of BugOil® and the relationship between the companies has been productive for all parties over the past 6 years. As a result, it was decided by Plant Impact that they would outsource discovery activities to tecsolve and development activities to CEMAS and concentrate their efforts on commercialisation.

tecsolve, the consulting arm of CEMAS, comprises over 70 world experts in the areas of project management, agricultural product development, product discovery, technology appraisal, technical strategy and the production of regulatory dossiers, all of which may be accessed by Plant Impact under the terms of this research and development agreement.

Commenting on the agreement, Dr Alan Jutsum, Managing Director of CEMAS said: "We are delighted with the signing of this agreement, which cements a long and ongoing business relationship we have had with this emerging plant technology company. We have already worked very closely with Plant Impact on identifying and confirming the unique properties of BugOil® and are excited that the relationship will extend to project managing the pivotal trials that will generate the regulatory dossiers for the likes of the Environmental Protection Agency in the USA. The whole team is excited at the prospect of working on the Company's current and future pipeline of products."

Michael Eustace, a director of tecsolve added: "Staff at tecsolve are delighted to be working with Plant Impact, contributing to the identification of novel products and assessing the technical and commercial potential of new technologies available to Plant Impact."

"Plant Impact has two key business drivers, its deep understanding of the biology of plant growth and in particular the role of micronutrients and the defence mechanisms that plants have developed to provide protection from pests. Our skill is in turning this understanding into commercial products that help growers around the world increase and protect crop yields. We have no problem bringing in additional expertise as required and the outsourcing of our development programmes in a formal way with a group we have grown to trust and respect is an obvious way of increasing development efficiency. This is an ideal win-win agreement for Plant Impact and all of its stakeholders", added Peter Blezard, CEO.  

For further information, please contact:

Peter Blezard Tel: +44 (0) 1772 645 164

CEO

Plant Impact

Anna Dunphy / Tristan Jervis Tel: +44 (0) 207 861 3838

Financial PR/IR

De Facto Communications

Emily Morgan / Nick Harriss Tel: +44 (0) 207 489 4500 

Blomfield Corporate Finance

Notes to Editors

About CEMAS

CEMAS has been in operation since 1989 and is based in a state-of-the-art facility in Southern England with access to modern laboratories, greenhouses and field sites. CEMAS has a team of over 50 highly qualified scientists and technicians with particular expertise in agrochemical development. The capabilities of CEMAS include analytical chemistry and method development for pesticides in any crop material, product chemistry, formulation science, hazard assessment and environmental risk assessment. All work is undertaken to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) or in the case of efficacy work to Good Experimental Practice (GEP), both of which are quality standards regulated by the UK Government.

About tecsolve

tecsolve provides Plant Impact with discovery services for both pesticides and crop health enhancers and will assist Plant Impact in identifying market opportunities and key research targets. In addition, it will undertake idea generation within tightly defined parameters and perform programmes of practical work in support of these targets. The activities of tecsolve will contribute to identifying novel products and assessing the technical and commercial potential of new technologies for licensing. Output is maximised by ensuring that research is a team effort drawing on specific individual strengths covering a wide range of scientific inputs. tecsolve is global in operation, with over seventy scientists, among them some of the top pesticide experts in Europe.  This will enable the strong market development of many Plant Impact projects, extending the Plant Impact research platform, plus collaboration on further research that is close to market including Speedo, CaT and PiNT technologies. This  approach is a major step forwards for Plant Impact which should lead to more specific discoveries, extend the current Plant Impact pipeline and hasten the development of new discoveries/patents.

The tecsolve team provides eminent scientists who have expertise in the following fields:

Plant Science: plant physiology, crop physiology, soil science.

Pest, disease and weed control: herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, acaricides, nematicides, adjuvants, integrated pest management, integrated crop management, biological control agents, pheromones, pesticide application, microbiology, biotechnology, resistance. 

Crop health enhancement/crop improvement: agronomy, plant growth regulators, biotechnology, fertilisers, trace elements. 

Sustainable agriculture including biofuels.