Through the partnership, Manus Bio will supply the natural active ingredients to STK for the production of the bio-pesticide products
Manus Bio's manufacturing facility in Augusta, Georgia. (Credit: Manus Bio/GlobeNewswire.)
Manus Bio, a natural ingredients developer, has partnered with STK Bio-Ag Technologies (STK), a developer of crop protection solutions, to develop and sell bio-pesticide products with plant-based active ingredients.
The ingredients developer stated that under the partnership, the first active ingredient that is being developed has shown the potency of insect control across a multitude of pests damaging fruit, vegetable and row crops.
The active ingredient is claimed to be of low abundance in nature, which has also posed a challenge in its production at scale and economics needed for commercial deployment of the solution.
Manus Bio CEO Ajikumar Parayil said: “We were attracted to STK because of their track record of successfully developing sustainable natural products for agricultural applications, which is an excellent fit for our high-performing microbial natural products chassis and the extensive manufacturing capacity in our Augusta, GA facility.
“We are excited to work together with STK to address the growing demand for powerful bio-actives for sustainable agricultural applications.”
Manus Bio to use its bio-fermentation platform to produce natural ingredients
Manus Bio, which uses an advanced bio-fermentation platform to produce natural ingredients, will implement the platform to develop a production process to supply the active ingredient and other ingredients at commercial scale, both in volume and cost.
STK will use its plant science and bio-ag solutions expertise for the development and commercialisation of the pesticides based on the natural active ingredients.
STK Bio-Ag Technologies CEO Arye Tenenbaum said: “Manus has proven capabilities in the large-scale production of complex natural ingredients.
“We are thrilled to be working with Manus Bio to bring this innovative active to become the basis for a family of new solutions for the benefit of farmers dealing with the growing need for sustainable farming.
“We believe that this novel active ingredient will help us realize a paradigm shift in sustainable food protection towards healthier, high quality, residue-free food.”
Manus Bio will act as the exclusive supplier to STK for the first active ingredient as the two companies work to commercialise the product.
In August 2019, Manus Bio had opened its first biotech manufacturing facility in Augusta, Georgia. At the plant, the company will produce several of its natural ingredient-based products, the first being Stevia sweetener.