Puricore looks for partners for new fungicide

PuriCore plans to enter discussions with potential partners to commercialise ActiVita after further positive results for the cell disruptant fungicide.

Tests in conjunction with the University of Oxford Department of Plant Sciences showed ActiVita is a capable of successfully inhibiting rice blast fungus and several other notable crop pathogenic fungi and oomycete diseases.

Michael Ashton, PuriCore’s executive chairman said: "As the demand for crop yields rises in line with increasing global population, protecting our food crops from disease is a growing challenge.

"Research carried out with Oxford University shows that ActiVita is an effective anti-fungal and therefore has the potential significantly to improve plant productivity.

"ActiVita is an important part of PuriCore's strategy to address food safety throughout the entire supply chain, going far beyond the supermarket and now into seeds and crops."

PuriCore added it now plans to enter discussions with potential partners to commercialise ActiVita to address the growing demand for a safe and effective fungicide for seeds and crops.

ActiVita is being developed as fungicidal seed, plant, and harvest protection agent for major crops and has been has been shown to be a potent cell disruptant.

The annual fungicide market is valued at approximately $12 billion worldwide, with crop loss due to pathogen infestation estimated at $100 billion annually.