Corporate Profile for Agraquest, Inc., dated May 21,1999.

http://www.allbusiness.com/environment-natural-resources/toxic-hazardous/6747628-1.html

Published Date:   May 21, 1999

Company Name:     AgraQuest, Inc.

Address:          1530 Drew Avenue
                  Davis, CA 95616-1272

Main Telephone
 Number:          530/750-0150

Internet Home
 Page Address
  (URL)           www.agraquest.com

Chief Executive
 Officer:         Pamela G. Marrone

Chief Financial
 Officer:         Bruce Holm

Investor Relations
 Contact:         Pamela Marrone
 Business number: 530/750-0150
 e-mail address:  
  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Public Relations
 Contact:         Pamela G. Marrone
 Business number: 530/750-0150
 e-mail address:  
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Industry:         Biotechnology; agbio; biopesticides

Company description:

Mission: AgraQuest discovers, develops and markets effective, safe, and environmentally-friendly natural products for farm, home and public health pest management.

Financing: AgraQuest is backed by several influential growers and agribusinesses and internationally recognized venture capital organizations.

Market Need and Market Opportunity: $31 billion are spent each year on chemical pesticides. The public has a negative perception of chemical pesticides. Transgenic crops are cannibalizing chemical pesticide markets and shifting pesticide use patterns in the major row crops. 500+ pest species have developed resistance to chemical pesticides. The cost and time to bring a new chemical to market have ballooned to $100M and 7-10 years (a biopesticide takes 2-4 years and $3M).

More than 100,000 compounds must be tested to find one new chemical pesticide product. As a result, fewer products are being registered and older ones are being removed. The Food Quality Protection Act restricts pesticides in children's food. The "minor crops" (fruits, nuts, vegetables and ornamentals = AgraQuest's focus) have fewer tools than larger crops such as cotton, corn, wheat and rice. The use of biopesticides, which make up less than 1% of the pesticides sold, is growing rapidly (20%/year).

Organic food, produced without synthetic chemicals, is growing at +20%/year.

Regulatory: Natural products are registered by the US EPA as "microbials" or "biochemicals." Cost is approximately $100-$400K, depending on the required toxicology tests. Approval is 8-12 months after registration package submission.

Technology: AgraQuest has a targeted and directed screening process that discovers proprietary, safe, naturally occurring microorganisms with efficacy and economics equal to or better than chemical pesticides. The microbes are fermented, dried, packaged and then sprayed on the crop just like chemical pesticides. How we do it: -0-

--   Let nature do the genetic manipulation/selection (no need for
     genetic engineering)
--   Find hardy, high producing strains, with high potency on the
     pest/pathogen
--   Optimize fermentation process on pesticidal activity not just
     cell yield
--   Formulate to increase activity by 25% or more
--   Compare to chemical pesticides on efficacy, cost and ease of use

-0-

Patents: Twelve patents issued/allowed. Four more filed.

Serenade(TM) Biofungicide: AgraQuest discovered Serenade(TM) through its targeted, proprietary screening system, less than a year after the 1995 founding the company. Since then, the company moved the product through the commercial development process in unprecedented record time. In over 200 field trials in 1998 and 1999 using commercial conditions and equipment, Serenade (TM) showed comparable or improved efficacy over current fungicide standards against a range of important vine, fruit and vegetable diseases, such as bacterial blights, scab, powdery mildews and Botrytis bunch rot/gray mold. Over $1 billion are spent annually to control these diseases worldwide. Registration approval is expected in 1999.

LAGINEX(R) mosquito larvicide:an environmentally friendly biocontrol for controlling mosquito larvae in water. Registered in the US. Available to mosquito vector and control districts in states where LAGINEX is registered.

Products in Development: From our own discovery process, we have generated a full pipeline of other biofungicide and bioinsecticide product candidates.

Management Team: AgraQuest has a management team with over 100 years of combined experience in finance, sales & marketing, R&D, business development, and regulatory.