Cibus Reports Third Quarter Financial Results and Provides Year-to-Date Business Update for 2024

Announced a strategic realignment to advance commercial opportunities, focusing resources on advancement of weed management platform (HT1 and HT3) for Rice, Pod Shatter Reduction in Canola, Sclerotinia resistance for Canola and Soybean, and on Soybean platform development

Great progress in Rice as we execute on our agreements with four major seed company customers in the United States and Latin America, with germplasm received from all customers; completed successful field trials with HT3 in customer germplasm, as well as completed what the Company believes to be the first field trials for stacked gene-edited herbicide tolerance traits

Also in Rice, signed an Agreement with RTDC Corporation Limited and Albaugh LLC to continue a collaboration expected to bring Cibus' HT3 trait (Clethodim-tolerant) to United States rice seed customers utilizing Albaugh's herbicide registration and crop protection expertise

In Canola, completed initial UK field trial for Pod Shatter Reduction in Winter Oilseed Rape; continued progress in Sclerotinia resistance with a successfully completed field trial for second mode of action; and awaiting results from greenhouse testing for third mode of action for Sclerotinia resistance; received positive greenhouse results for HT2

Soybean platform, which will be a key inflection point for Cibus, remains on track to be operational by year end 2024

Initiated actions to achieve $10 million in cost savings on an annualized run-rate basis consistent with strategic alignment and continuing transformation from an R&D-focused company to the first commercial stage gene editing company in agriculture, with expected reduction of monthly cash usage by approximately 20%

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the "Company"), a leading agricultural biotechnology company that uses proprietary gene editing technologies to develop plant traits (or specific genetic characteristics) in seeds, today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024, and provided a year-to-date business update for 2024. Management will host a conference call and webcast today at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Management Commentary

"This has been a transformative first nine months for Cibus, and as we end this quarter, I'm pleased to report that all of our operational crop platforms now have field studies or greenhouse data with multiple traits and customer relationships, which we believe validates our technology and commercial approach," stated Rory Riggs, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cibus. "We are actively working with our customers to advance germplasm with our traits toward commercialization. In light of these relationships and their stage of development, we have recently provided more detailed timelines around anticipated launches which are expected to lead to royalty revenues and allow our stakeholders to better benchmark our commercial progress and prospects."

Mr. Riggs continued, "We are also continuing to take proactive steps to focus on advancing our highest priority objectives. Our recently announced strategic realignment focuses the allocation of our capital resources toward our commercial efforts through advancement of our weed management traits for Rice, Sclerotinia resistance trait for Canola and Soybean, and the continuing development of our Soybean platform, while enabling continued progress on our Pod Shatter Reduction trait and our third weed management trait HT2 utilizing a more streamlined use of resources."

"Our Rice platform exemplifies the progress we've made with our HT1 and HT3 herbicide traits gaining substantial momentum this year and which we anticipate will be utilized eventually as stacked traits in an integrated weed management platform. We have agreements with four major Rice seed company customers in North and Latin America and we've received germplasm from each of these customers. All of this progress is made possible by our Trait Machine process, a paradigm shift in breeding complex traits, as we can now complete edits in a customer's elite germplasm and return it within as few as 12 months. This breakthrough in speed and predictability allows us to work seamlessly with seed companies, augmenting their breeding operations with our capabilities in complex gene-editing."

"We've also made significant strides in our Advanced Traits this year, particularly with our work in productivity traits. We have received successful field trial results for a second mode of action for Sclerotinia resistance in Canola, and greenhouse testing is underway for the third mode of action. With our Sclerotinia resistance trait being a multi-crop trait, the incredible progress we are making in Canola is foundational to the development of this trait for our Soybean platform, once operational. Additionally, we have encouraging greenhouse data for our HT2 edits in Canola as we head into anticipated field trials in 2025. These aren't just technological achievements -- they represent products advancing toward commercialization with real royalty potential."

Mr. Riggs concluded, "As we complete our transformation from an R&D-focused company to the first commercial-stage gene editing company in agriculture, we're setting the stage for a new industry of gene-edited traits. Our progress positions Cibus at the forefront of agricultural innovation. The fact that we now have validating data for multiple traits across our operational crop platforms, with customers moving forward toward commercialization, proves that our technology is working. But we are not just developing traits, we are creating commercial products alongside our seed company customers with the potential to generate meaningful revenue while pioneering a more sustainable and productive future for global agriculture by addressing critical challenges such as disease resistance and herbicide tolerance across multiple major crops."

Commercial Progress

Progress of Cibus' Developed Traits

   -- Weed Management (HT1 and HT3) in Rice 
 
          -- Including Cibus' second quarter agreement with FEDEARROZ, Cibus 
             has agreements with four customers, including major Rice seed 
             companies in North and Latin America to have Cibus' HT traits 
             placed in their elite germplasm as they move toward potential 
             commercialization. 
 
          -- Received germplasm from all four Rice customers. 
 
          -- Completed a successful field trial in the US with a customer's 
             germplasm. 
 
          -- Cibus, RTDC Corporation Limited, and Albaugh LLC entered into an 
             amendment to certain existing agreements to continue a 
             collaboration that brings Cibus' Clethodim-tolerant Rice (HT3 
             trait) to US rice seed customers utilizing Albaugh's herbicide 
             registration and crop protection expertise and establishes related 
             financial obligations among the parties, including with respect to 
             the allocation of trait fees and royalties received by Cibus. 
 
          -- Received initial field trial results for stacked gene edited 
             herbicide tolerance traits in Rice; we believe this is the first 
             trial use of stacked gene edited herbicide tolerance traits in 
             Rice to improve weed management. 
   -- Pod Shatter Reduction $(PSR)$ in Canola and Winter Oilseed Rape (WOSR) 
 
          -- Completed successful initial PSR field trials for WOSR in the UK 
             for multiple customers, an important milestone in furthering 
             Cibus' commercialization efforts for WOSR in Europe. 
 
          -- Planted next round of UK field trials in the third quarter and 
             expect to receive data in 2025 harvest season. 

Progress of Cibus' Advanced Traits and Sustainable Ingredients

   -- Sclerotinia Resistance 
 
          -- Received field trial results for second mode of action in Canola. 
 
          -- Canola plants containing third mode of action are currently under 
             evaluation in a controlled greenhouse environment with results 
             expected later this year and field trials planned for 2025. 
   -- Herbicide Tolerance (HT2) 
 
          -- Received positive greenhouse data for HT2 edits in Canola; now 
             moving to the field with initial field trial data anticipated in 
             2025. 
   -- Sustainable Ingredients 
 
          -- Continued progress toward current partner-funded project. 

Progress within Crop Platforms

   -- Soybean Platform 
 
          -- Expect Soybean platform to be operational by year end 2024, 
             allowing access to this large market of approximately 125 million 
             accessible acres. 

Corporate and Industry Progress

   -- Expansion of IP coverage for plant gene editing and traits 
 
          -- Through the first nine months of 2024, Cibus received additional 
             patents across 10 plant gene editing and trait families, further 
             strengthening the Company's IP portfolio including in its Pod 
             Shatter Reduction and Herbicide Tolerance trait families. 
 
          -- The IP expansion covers gene editing, productivity traits and 
             quality traits that strengthen Cibus' patent coverage in 
             geographies including, but not limited to, Europe, Asia, Latin 
             America, and North America. 
   -- Canada added to growing list of countries regulating Cibus' gene editing 
      technologies similar to conventional breeding in feed 
 
          -- In May 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Animal 
             Feed Division published updated guidelines outlining the CFIA's 
             approach to regulating feed products/ingredients from gene editing 
             like those developed through conventional breeding. 
 
          -- Other global markets: The movement of other countries approving 

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November 07, 2024 16:06 ET (21:06 GMT)