Plant Health Care plans initial commercial launch of Saori™ in 2H21

Plant Health Care (PHC FOLLOW) said Saori™, the Company’s first product from its PREtec platform to be commercialised, has demonstrated “an encouraging performance” as a seed treatment. 

PHC, has successfully conducted sixteen field trials using commercial volumes of Saori™ while it currently has 34 trials ongoing this season. 

Specifically, Saori™, also known as PHC279, was developed as a seed treatment for soybeans in Brazil, a country which is one of the world's leading soybean producer with more than 38 million hectares (that’s 95 million acres) planted in the current season.

Saori™ is used in order to prevent and treat Asian Soybean Rust (“ASR”) which is a disease caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, which can lead to crop yield loss of up to 90%.

According to data presented in today’s statement, Brazilian soybean farmers spent $2.85 bn on disease control in the 2019/20 season, around 90% of which was for ASR control.

Saori™ is the first PREtec peptide approved in Brazil. Derived from natural proteins, PREtec peptides ‘represent a novel class of technology which stimulate the plant to defend itself.’

Both Plant Health Care and its partners have been visiting the ongoing soybean trials across Brazil.  The Company told investors that preliminary results suggest ‘significantly improved early plant growth and enhanced early season disease control in the Saori™ treated fields.’

Across all 16 trials, Saori™ consistently improved control of ASR. The Company said it showed potential ‘as a novel tool for integrated pest management systems,’ meaning the treatment reduced the use of potentially fewer safe agrochemicals during the trial period. 

‘From a value proposition perspective, Saori™ demonstrated the potential to deliver disease control and increased crop yield worth an average of about US$85/ha for Brazilian soybean growers, delivering a Return on Investment (“RoI”) of 6x or more,’ the Company detailed.

PHC, which is planning a commercial launch of Saori™ its second half of 2021, said it has begun commercial discussions with leading Brazilian crop protection companies, many of which have planted their own soybean trials to independently confirm Saori’s performance. 

Initial sales will specifically focus on early adopters of novel technologies within the sustainable agricultural markets.  Significant penetration of a market estimated to be worth approximately US$2.56bn per annum is expected over the following three to five years.

Chris Richards, CEO of PHC said, “Saori has the potential to be a truly disruptive and sustainable technology in soybeans, boosting crop growth while improving disease control.”

He added, “It is not only highly cost-effective, but also delivers a big step in improving the sustainability of soybean production. While drought delayed planting in many areas of Brazil, Saori is demonstrating encouraging performance during the current soybean season; we are already seeing increased vigour and early season disease control. 

We look forward with confidence to the initial commercial launch of Saori in the second half of 2021. Outside Brazil, we are preparing to launch PREtec products to markets in the U.S. and other countries, initially targeting markets with opportunities greater than $5 billion."

Shares in Plant Health Care have increased by over 25% since the beginning of 2021. The stock saw a strong start to the year after PH279 (now known and branded as Saori) became the first product from its PREtec platform to receive federal approval for sale in Brazil.

Investors will be delighted to hear news of the positive preliminary results from the 16 trials and news of the initial commercialisation slated for 2H21. With the Company stating it believes Saori has the potential to deliver disease control and yield increase worth around US$75/ha for Brazilian soybean growers, giving them an ROI of 6x or more, while reducing the use of potentially fewer safe agrochemicals there is much for investors to look forward too during 2021.

PHC price chart

Reasons to Follow PHC

London-listed Plant Health Care is a leading provider of proprietary agricultural biological products and technology solutions focused on improving crop performance.

Its commercial business is driven by sales of Harpin αß, a recombinant protein which acts as a powerful biostimulant, promoting the yield and quality of crops. PHC sells the proprietary soil treatment Myconate in selected countries and sells both Harpin αß and Myconate through specialist distributors globally. In Mexico, PHC distributes third-party biological products.

PHC utilises its PREtec platform to generate numerous products and it is focusing on three products targeting very large market opportunities with a value of more than $5bn.

The Group said these products are currently under evaluation with six potential commercial partners. Meanwhile, PHC also continues to evaluate further candidate products from its robust pipeline of development candidates for additional crops and indications.

In a trading update released in January 2021, the Group reported robust in-market sales growth of Harpin αβ with in-market sales in Brazilfor  sugarcane coming in at three times those of 2019, while in-market sales to corn came in at 1.8 times higher than the prior year.

Meanwhile, the Group hailed its progress in bringing the first products from the PREtec platform to market. It highlighted it is planning for initial commercial launch in Brazil during the second half of 2021.