Culmination of Advances in Gene Editing Efficiency and Process Improvements Drives Standardization of Cibus’ Gene Editing System Delivering Traits in a Customer’s Elite Germplasm in less than 12 Months

Cibus Announces Editing Milestone in the Continuing Development of its Soybean Platform

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the “Company”), a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, today announced that it has established production standards for its proprietary RTDS gene editing process. These standards, applicable to the Company’s developed and advanced traits, represent the accomplishment of a critical goal as the Company seeks to continue industrialization of plant breeding through its standardized timebound and predictable process. This standardization has major positive implications for the development and commercialization of new traits.

Cibus’ production standards have been developed for Cibus’ developed traits in Rice (herbicide tolerance (HT1 and HT3)) and Canola (pod shatter reduction and herbicide tolerance (HT2)), as well as advanced traits in Canola ( Sclerotinia resistance). In each of these cases, Cibus believes that it can edit a customer’s elite germplasm or seed and return it to its customer with a specific edit within 12 months.

The development of Cibus’ standardized process has been driven by many advances over time, including:

  • Advances in Cibus’ proprietary cell biology technology enable the Company to develop and improve crop platforms that can regenerate whole plants from a single cell of a customer’s elite germplasm.
  • Advances in the company’s oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis (ODM) editing platform enabling multiple DNA edits (known as spelling changes) driving improved editing conversion rates critical for development of complex traits like disease resistance. Cibus’ gene editing conversion rates across its crops at between 10 – 25% in Rice and as high as 50% in Canola.
  • Streamlining and semi-automation of Cibus’ regeneration process, including rigorous testing and quality controls, which are critical to managing process time and product quality.

These advancements underscore Cibus’ mission to use gene editing technology to industrialize plant breeding. Cibus’ standardized high throughput, semi-automated, gene editing production system is instrumental to the Company’s commitment to deliver to its seed company customers through a time-bound and predictable process.

In addition, while Cibus did not meet its stated goal of achieving an operational soybean platform by the end of the year 2024, the Company did successfully edit a Soybean cell with genetic changes associated with its HT2 trait, achieving sufficiently high editing rates that enabled expanded development by the Company of its Soybean platform. The Company continues to work diligently toward a fully operational Soybean platform.

“Conventional breeding and other forms of gene editing involve lengthy and often random processes. A major objective in the development of Cibus’ gene editing process has been the promise of a new paradigm in breeding that has the ability to develop traits in a short timebound and predictable way and to develop traits that are indistinguishable from traits developed in nature,” stated Greg Gocal Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President. “A key part of our objective has been to standardize our process as we edit our customer’s elite germplasm.”

“The impact of Cibus’ technological and process advances cannot be overstated. We can materially reduce the time involved in developing traits and the time required for commercialization of traits by our global seed company customers. Our patented ODM technology enables us to make complex (multiple) edits in a single pass, as opposed to other gene editing technologies that typically take much longer due to the need to run sequential processes in order to successfully accomplish multiple edits. This capability, in conjunction with our standardized process, drives our timebound and predictable breeding system,” stated Peter Beetham Co-Founder, President and Chief Operating Officer. “We have created a new industry paradigm for the development and commercialization of new traits.”

“We believe that the resulting genetic changes from Cibus’ RTDS process for each crop will be considered a new global class of plant trait products that are regulated similarly to those occurring naturally or that could have been developed through conventional breeding,” commented Rory Riggs, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO. “This is especially important as it means products of our RTDS process are expected be distinguished from any process using transgenic plants and other Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).”

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 is not a seed company. It is a technology company that uses gene editing to develop and license traits to seed companies in exchange for royalties on seed sales. Cibus' long-term focus is productivity traits for farmers for the major global row crops with large acreage such as canola, rice, and soybean. Cibus is a technology leader in high-throughput gene editing technology that is expected to enable it to develop and commercialize plant traits at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional breeding. Cibus has developed a current pipeline of five productivity traits including important traits for weed management in Rice, Pod Shatter Reduction, and Sclerotinia (disease) resistance, which are its near-term focus.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continue,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will,” or the negative of these terms and other similar terminology. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Cibus' operational performance, Cibus' strategy, future operations, prospects, and plans, including the anticipated receipt of commercial revenues and additional funding.

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; and other important factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Cibus' Annual Report on Form 10-K which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 21, 2024. 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
Karen Troeber
[email protected]
858-450-2636

Jeff Sonnek – ICR
[email protected]

MEDIA RELATIONS
[email protected]
Colin Sanford
[email protected]
203-918-4347