APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing a novel MoA from this program to reach the ’Lead’ stage
AgPlenus Ltd., an innovative company designing effective, sustainable crop protection products by leveraging computational biology and chemistry headquartered in Israel, and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. has announced that it has reached the ’Lead’ stage in its novel Mode-of-Action (MoA) herbicide program. The achievement of this milestone follows the conclusion of field tests that demonstrated that product candidate APH1, at commercial dose rates, effectively controlled a broad panel of weeds, including weeds that are known to have resistance to existing herbicides. These results were confirmed in independent field tests conducted by SynTech Research, an agricultural R&D contract research organization located in California.
Over the last several decades, the increasing use of existing MoA herbicides along with the extremely limited introduction of new MoA herbicides have resulted in weeds that are highly resistant to currently available commercial products. AgPlenus herbicide program focuses on the discovery and targeting of new MoAs to overcome herbicide resistance issues. Herbicide candidate APH1 is the first chemical compound addressing a novel MoA from this program to reach the ’Lead’ stage.
The positive results announced, achieved in field tests in Israel and confirmed in independent field tests in California by SynTech Research, were conducted with commercial-level application rates on a broad panel of weeds in the post-emergence application. Weed control was statistically significant (compared to untreated controls) and in the range of 70%-100% in 6 out of 9 commercially important weed species. Additionally, in greenhouse tests conducted in post-emergence applications, APH1 demonstrated efficacy against several key resistant weeds, including glyphosate4 resistant weed strains. In addition to efficacy against a broad panel of weed species, APH1 also exhibited crop selectivity; corn and cereals showed inherent tolerance to APH1.
These field tests followed a series of lab and greenhouse experiments. Lab experiments validated that the biological pathway that APH1 impacts in plants is a new MoA, not present in higher organisms such as mammals, which may impact its potential safety profile. Greenhouse experiments, conducted in varying pre-and post-emergence applications, demonstrated strong efficacy against weeds that are notorious for developing resistance.
