REHOVOT, Israel, May 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biomica, a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN)
(TASE:EVGN), an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics utilizing Evogene's
Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform, announced today its focus on the development of therapies for antibiotic resistant
bacteria, Immuno-Oncology and GI related disorders.
The human gut microbiome is the collection of trillions of micro-organisms that exist in the digestive tract.
These microbes play key roles in various functions in human health, including food digestion and protection from diseases. Numerous
studies have shown that changes in the microbiome and their interactions with immune and endocrine systems, alongside other systems
in the human body, are correlated with a wide array of illnesses, ranging from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to
cancer1. The search for microbiome therapies and treatments is a rapidly growing focus for bio-therapeutics research and
development, with the potential to reach $9.9Bn annual sales by 20242.
Biomica leverages a tailored CPB platform tool-set to identify and characterize disease related changes in the
human microbiome, and to develop novel therapeutics based on these understandings. Over the past year, significant efforts and
investments were made to develop proprietary predictive computational tools and data sets to analyze changes in the gut microbiome
related to human health, and to develop novel therapeutics.
Dr. Elran Haber, Biomica’s CEO, stated: “I am proud to announce Biomica’s therapeutic areas of
focus, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this emerging space. Using Evogene’s CPB platform, provides a unique
competitive edge, allowing big data integration, analysis and prediction in order to discover, optimize and develop new microbiome
based therapeutics. I believe that these computational tools will help us reach substantial achievements and build our product
pipeline in an expedited manner. We look forward to update you on our progress in the near future.”
Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and CEO, stated: “Biomica is an excellent example of how we can
leverage our unique and broadly applicable CPB platform to a variety of life-sciences. The CPB platform has the ability to process
vast amounts of raw biological and chemical data to provide cross interaction predictions, ultimately providing solutions to
science’s most difficult challenges, targeting people’s varying needs – from food to health."
About Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform:
The CPB platform was built over the last decade at an investment of tens of millions of dollars. The CPB
platform provides predictions and design of product solutions by computationally decoding the biological world, through
incorporating deep scientific understandings and cutting-edge computational technology. For more information regarding the CPB
platform, please visit Evogene's website at www.evogene.com.
About Biomica:
Biomica was established by Evogene and Prof. Yehuda Ringel in 2017. For Evogene, a leading biotechnology company
developing novel products for life science markets, Biomica represents its first activity in the area of human health. Prof. Yehuda
Ringel, Biomica's Chief Scientific Officer, is the Chief Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Meir Medical Center,
affiliated with Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and brings years of experience in human microbiome and translational research.
Biomica’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Elran Haber, joined the company at the beginning of 2018 and is an experienced executive
with significant experience in the pharmaceuticals industry. Prior to joining Biomica, Dr. Haber served as CEO Therapix Biosciences
(NASDAQ:TRPX) (TASE:TRPX).
About Evogene:
Evogene (NASDAQ, TASE: EVGN) is a leading biotechnology company developing novel products for major life science
markets through the use of a unique Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform incorporating deep scientific understandings
and advanced computational technologies. This platform is utilized by the Company to discover and develop innovative ag-chemical,
ag-biological and ag-seed products (GM and non GM), and by two subsidiaries; Evofuel, focused on castor seeds, and Biomica, focused
on human microbiome therapeutics. Through its collaborations with world-leading companies such as BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and
Syngenta, Evogene has utilized its CPB platform to discover and license thousands of genes, small molecules and microbes to
partners under milestone and royalty bearing agreements. For more information, please visit www.evogene.com
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future
events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could",
“expects”, "intends", “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar
meaning. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions,
describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and
are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene may differ
materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of
factors, many of which beyond Evogene's control, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in
Evogene’s reports filed with the appropriate securities authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation or commitment to
update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates,
projections and assumptions.
Contact:
Nir Zalik
IR/PR director
E: IR@evogene.com
T: (+972)-8-931-1963
US Investor Relations
Vivian Cervantes
PCG Advisory
E: vivian@pcgadvisory.com
T: 646-863-6274
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1 Nature Medicine volume 24, pages 392–400 (2018)
2 BCC Research – Human Microbiome-Based Drugs and Giagnostic: Global Markets
