Saori® and Obrona®
The launch of Saori – The first "vaccine for plants"
After eight years of research and development, we were excited to launch our first PREtec product, Saori®, in Brazil in September 2021, followed by the launch of Obrona® in the US in 2023.
Saori promotes healthy growth of soybeans and helps them fight disease; Brazilian soybean growers spent $2.5 billion on fungicides to control disease in 2021, so this is a huge opportunity for Saori. With limited volume of product available, we focused on demonstrating the benefits of Saori in 2021; approximately 250 farmers tested the product and the reaction was enormously positive. Our partner Nutrien treated seed with Saori to plant more than 150,000 hectares in 2022, which resulted in sales well in excess of $0.75 million for PHC. Nutrien is targeting sales of more than 1 million hectares in 2025. With commercial production now established, we are confident that Saori™ will generate gross margins at least comparable to those we currently enjoy with Harpinαβ and we have the capacity to supply all forecast global demand and more.
Brazil
In Brazil, further development work is under way to build on the successful 2021 launch of Saori for the treatment of Asian Soybean Rust and other soybean diseases. The Company plans to register a new liquid formulation of Saori, to complement the granular formulation launched in 2021.
In late 2023, the active ingredient in Saori, PREtec peptide PHC279 was also approved by MAPA for foliar use to control of sugar cane orange rust (Puccinia kuehnii) and coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) and will be sold under the name Moshy™. In 2022,
US
Obrona™, based on the same active ingredient found in Saori® in Brazil, was launched in the US In 2023 by Wilbur-Ellis® Agribusiness. Obrona is a unique foliar product developed to help growers control a wide range of fungal and bacterial plant pathogens within fruits, nuts, vegetables, and row crops. Multiple years of field trials validated product efficacy to support initial launch focused on corn diseases, such as tar spot (Phyllachora maydis), Gray leaf spot (Cercospora zeae-maydis), and common rust (Puccinia sorghi), as well as powdery and downy mildew and various other diseases in grapes, as well as white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) and other diseases affecting leafy vegetables within key Western US states.
