Field testing confirms efficacy of HT2 trait in Canola under real-world conditions

HT2 trait will be offered to potential seed licensing partners for introduction into commercial Canola seed products

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the “Company”), a leading agricultural technology company developing and licensing advanced gene edited plant traits that enable improved productivity, higher yields, lower input costs, and more sustainable farming, today announced the completion of field testing for its second-generation herbicide tolerance (HT2) edited Canola with positive results.

“Our second-generation herbicide tolerance edited canola previously performed well in greenhouse trials and has now shown positive results in our 2025 Canola field trials,” said Jim Radtke, PhD, Senior VP of Product Development at Cibus. “Achieving this milestone is an important step toward providing the Canola industry with a more effective, flexible tool for weed management, and it reflects the continued progress we are making in rapidly delivering innovative, sustainable trait solutions.”

Field testing is an essential step in validating trait performance under real-world conditions. Following successful greenhouse evaluations, Cibus conducted HT2 Canola field trials during the 2025 growing season at multiple US locations. Because growers often rely on multiple herbicides to manage weed pressure in their fields, traits like HT2 can help improve control with fewer herbicide applications. In addition, HT2 can also be “stacked” with other herbicide resistance traits, giving growers additional options and greater flexibility in their approach to weed management.

“Our technologies, which allow for complex edits that enhance productivity, hold great promise for the future of agriculture and we are very pleased to see the validation of our work in this season’s field trials for HT2 in Canola,” said Greg Gocal, PhD, Co-Founder, Executive VP and Chief Scientific Officer at Cibus. “Cibus continues to exhibit its ability to develop novel traits using its timebound and predicable approach with an aim of delivering higher yields, better crop management, and more nutritious foods while drastically shortening the time of development, reducing cost and enhancing speed to market for the benefit of growers.”

Cibus’ weed management solutions aim to deliver crop seeds with tolerance in both existing and novel herbicides, giving farmers new and more effective options for managing weeds. Traits such as HT2 are designed to help farmers protect yield by combatting weeds resistant to widely used herbicides and to support crops that require multiple herbicide solutions. The positive trial results are also a strong demonstration of Cibus’ Rapid Trait Development System ™ ( RTDS ® ), which enables trait development in significantly less time than conventional breeding or GMO approaches, and advances the Company’s strategy to build a broad portfolio of herbicide tolerance traits across multiple crops.

About Cibus

Cibus is a leader in gene edited productivity traits that address critical productivity and sustainability challenges for farmers such as diseases and pests which the United Nations estimates cost the global economy approximately $300 billion annually. Cibus’ long-term focus is productivity traits for farmers for the major global row crops. Cibus is not a seed company. It is a technology company that uses proprietary high-throughput gene editing technology to develop at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional breeding and to license them to seed companies in exchange for royalties on seed sales.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included herein, including statements regarding Cibus' operational and financial performance, Cibus' liquidity and capital resources, the implementation and execution of cost savings initiatives, Cibus' strategy, future operations, prospects, and plans, including the anticipated receipt of commercial revenues and additional funding, are forward-looking statements. Cibus' assessment of the period of time through which its financial resources will be adequate to support its operations is a forward-looking statement. Because this involves such risks and uncertainties, the Company could use its available capital resources sooner than it currently expects. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "expect," "plan," "scheduled," "could," "would" and "will," or the negative of these and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions of Cibus' management about future events, which are based on currently available information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond the control of Cibus. Cibus' actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements could be materially different than those expressed, implied, or anticipated by forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: Cibus' need for additional near-term funding to finance its activities and challenges in obtaining additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all; changes in expected or existing competition; challenges to Cibus' intellectual property protection and unexpected costs associated with defending intellectual property rights; increased or unanticipated time and resources required for Cibus' platform or trait product development efforts; Cibus' reliance on third parties in connection with its development activities; challenges associated with Cibus' ability to effectively license its productivity traits and sustainable ingredient products; the risk that farmers do not recognize the value in germplasm containing Cibus' traits or that farmers and processors fail to work effectively with crops containing Cibus' traits; delays or disruptions in the Company's platform or trait product development efforts, particularly with respect to its non-Rice and non-disease projects in light of the Company's realigned strategic priorities; challenges that arise in respect of Cibus' production of high-quality plants and seeds cost effectively on a large scale; Cibus' dependence on distributions from Cibus Global, LLC to pay taxes and cover its corporate and overhead expenses; regulatory developments that disfavor or impose significant burdens on gene-editing processes or products; delays and uncertainties regarding regulatory developments in the European Union; Cibus' ability to achieve commercial success; commodity prices and other market risks facing the agricultural sector; technological developments that could render Cibus' technologies obsolete; changes in macroeconomic and market conditions, including inflation, supply chain constraints, and rising interest rates; dislocations in the capital markets and challenges in accessing liquidity and the impact of such liquidity challenges on Cibus' ability to execute on its business plan; the Company's assessment of the period of time through which its financial resources will be adequate to support operations; and other important factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Cibus' Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 20, 2025. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements.

In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Cibus' views as of the date hereof. Cibus specifically disclaims any obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Cibus' views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.

CIBUS CONTACTS:

INVESTOR RELATIONS
Jeff Sonnek – ICR
[email protected]

MEDIA RELATIONS
[email protected]
Colin Sanford
[email protected]