Lavie Bio Ltd., a leading ag-biologicals company focusing on improving food quality and agricultural productivity and sustainability through the introduction of microbiome-based products, and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. , announced advancement to the pre-commercialization development stage1 in its bio-fungicide program targeting fruit rot diseases. Announcement follows the completion of three consecutive years of vineyard trials, including promising 2021 results, conducted in Europe and the U.S., for two of its leading bio-fungicide product candidates, LAV.311 and LAV.312. Lavie Bio has prioritized LAV311 as its lead candidate for final development and submission of a regulatory dossier, expected to be filed with the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California EPA during 2022.
The annual expenditure on chemical fungicide crop protection was estimated at approximately $18.7 billion in 20192, out of which the annual global expense of fruit rot control usually exceeds $1 billion3. Increasing disease resistance to existing chemicals and sustainability concerns may encourage the use of biological products4, which could be integrated into the farmer’s existing IPM (Integrated Pest Management)5. The target market for Lavie Bio’s fruit rot bio-fungicide is expected to be in the greater U.S. market and California in particular, targeting a variety of fruits, and may include grapes, tomatoes and berries.
Lavie Bio conducted these vineyard trials in a variety of geographies in Europe and the U.S., with different grapes varieties, agro-practices and several product formulations and applications. The results indicate that LAV.311 and LAV.312 provided better efficacy and consistency than the commercial biological benchmark control and in some cases may even be comparable to commonly used benchmark chemical solutions. The positive results achieved provide the required empirical foundation for the continued development of both product candidates, and Lavie Bio has prioritized LAV.311 to enter the regulatory process.