Botanical Solution Inc. (BSI) appoints Marcus Meadows-Smith to their board

Botanical Solution Inc. (BSI), an innovator of sustainable, highly consistent and cost effective Advanced Botanical Materials (ABM), has appointed Marcus Meadows-Smith to its Board of Directors. As a proven, successful, and recognized leader within the agrochemical industry, Meadows-Smith will advise and support the management team’s current efforts to bring novel biopesticides and a gold standard vaccine adjuvant to global markets.

Meadows-Smith is currently CEO of BioConsortia Inc., a leading discoverer of microbial crop protection and crop enhancement products. Prior to that, he turned around the biopesticide business AgraQuest Inc. over a four-year timeframe, signing partnership agreements between a bio-ag company and several big agchemical giants, culminating in Marcus’ company being acquired by Bayer CropScience for over $400 million. Following Bayer’s acquisition of AgraQuest, he became head of biologics for Bayer CropScience. Previously, Meadows-Smith had a 14-year career at Chemtura Corporation, assuming multiple managerial roles and ultimately becoming EVP for a $2 billion portfolio of businesses that included crop protection, consumer products, and plastics additives.

A unique and patented R & D platform, based on plant tissue culture, allows BSI to discover and develop botanical products that are sustainable, highly consistent and cost effective. This R & D platform eliminates the major barriers, such as supply and quality issues, that have prevented traditional botanicals from becoming truly commercially successful.

BSI’s first product “ABM-01” is based on a plant which is native to Chile, named Quillaja saponaria molina. This product is the active ingredient used in the production of their biopesticide Botristop^®, and the adjuvant QS-21, the gold standard adjuvant for modern vaccines development.

BSI successfully launched Botristop® with Syngenta in Chile in 2019. This partnership has greatly benefited local high value crop growers who now have access to advanced and effective IPM strategies. Botristop^®´s unique modes of action allow worldwide exports of top quality fresh produce, while meeting the world´s strictest MRL guidelines. Botristop^® will soon be registered in a number of key Latin American countries. Additional regulatory actions are also expected in the U.S. and E.U. during 2020 and 2021, respectively.

In the Pharma space, BSI plans to become a key supplier of pharmaceutical grade QS-21 to address serious challenges of its imminent shortage of this key vaccine adjuvant. QS-21 is currently used in several COVID-19 vaccine candidates, among other vaccines candidates with broader target diseases in different stages of development.

QS-21 has traditionally been obtained from wild raw materials sources, with high manufacturing costs of this remarkably effective human innate immune activator.

According to Mr. Meadows-Smith, “BSI has a breakthrough technology for the cost-effective and reliable production of key high quality botanicals, filling a need gap in the market. BSI’s products have been proven through extensive field trials on multiple crops in key countries. This includes the successful launch by Syngenta in Chile, the first country to gain an ag registration.” Meadows-Smith added, “QS-21 has become the ‘Gold Standard’ for human vaccine adjuvants, and BSI is well-positioned to become a reliable, cost effective supplier to the pharmaceutical market.”

Meadows-Smith concluded, “I’m very pleased to serve on the Board of this innovative Company, which I believe will be making an increasingly important contribution to improving plant and human health.”

BSI CEO, Gaston Salinas, declared, “I feel honored to have Marcus onboard. I believe his valuable experience will spillover across the Company and will allow us to make the right decisions at the right time, and materialize a long-term vision for our business. We are currently addressing key strategic and distribution decisions in different markets worldwide for Agriculture and Pharma. Marcus´ unique vision and expertise arrives at the perfect time for BSI.”

AgroPages new business magazine 2020 Biologicals Special now available for free download!