BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE:BHSC, OTC:CNVCF) revealed that it has trademarked its proprietary non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) biotech platform technology as ‘Bio-Plant CELLicitation’.
BioHarvest, which is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange and has offices in Rehovot, Israel, said the new trademark replaces ‘BioFarming’ and underscores the potential for its technology to be used in the botanical drugs space.
"The Bio-Plant CELLicitation proven platform technology allows us to address multiple market verticals with multiple products under different categories," BioHarvest CEO Ilan Sobel said in a statement.
READ: BioHarvest Sciences projects significant revenue growth for 2022 as its business approaches scaling point
"The elicitation element allowing the creation of patentable compounds that can be produced economically and consistently with cleanliness and high sustainability credentials, enables BioHarvest to potentially impact the botanical drugs market in addition to growing its core base business."
Sobel noted that the term CELLicitation “better reflects” the combined actions of growing plant cells in “industrial-scale bioreactors while eliciting specific molecules and/or structures to produce unique botanical compounds with high human utility value."
The company highlighted the power of the Bio-Plant CELLicitation platform as follows:
- It enables economical and consistent production of commercial biomass of unique plant-based metabolites (such as polyphenols, antioxidants, cannabinoids, terpenes, psychoactive molecules, proteins and more) without the need to grow the plant itself.
- The end-to-end manufacturing process defined by the CELLicitation technology requires low CapEx and has higher sustainability credentials than alternative technologies available for producing metabolites.
- The elicitation of certain molecules of interest, without performing any genetic modification, produces full-spectrum unique and patentable compositions. These could be benefit consumers as functional food, dietary supplements, medical food, and botanical drugs.
- The technology has been proven on multiple plants and fruits. For example, BioHarvest’s patented compound VINIA is now commercially available and sold in Israel and the US. It contains a complex of polyphenols with a unique elicited Piceid Resveratrol at a factor of 100x. The product pipeline includes olive cells, which include polyphenols with Verbascoside at a 10x elicitation factor, and a Pomegranate-based product including PGG at a 5x elicitation factor.
- The cannabis-based product based on the CELLicitation platform will contain unique patentable compositions of cannabinoids and terpenes in trichomes.
- It removes the barriers hindering the successful development of botanical drugs. The patentability of the compounds, and the repeatability and consistency of production, increase the odds for botanical drugs.
BioHarvest also pointed out that it has created intellectual property in the biology area thanks to its technology with 14 registered and two pending patents.
"Ever since we started the development of our platform technology, we knew it had more advantages than just growing the plant cells to produce the original compound of metabolites," said Dr Yochi Hagay, who is the co-founder and CTO at BioHarvest. "The proven results of eliciting certain molecules and structures from the original plant not only justifies the new name of Bio-Plant CELLicitation but also creates the opportunity to produce innovative and patentable botanical compounds."
Significantly, BioHarvest recently produced cannabis biomass without growing the plant itself, using its Bio-Plant CELLicitation platform technology. The biotech firm plans to bring its first cannabis-based products to market in 2022.
Meanwhile, BioHarvest has indicated that it expects revenue in 2022 to be US$5 to $7 million.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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