For Immediate Release
San Diego (January 6, 2014) — Cibus, Ltd. (Cibus), a cutting-edge technology firm and leader in the area of gene editing, has acquired the remaining interest in Nucelis Inc. (Nucelis). The announcement was made by Cibus CEO and President Keith Walker. Nucelis, which had been established as an independent entity in December 2010, will now become an independent operating unit of Cibus, which employs approximately 100 people worldwide, and also includes Cibus US LLC and Cibus Europe B.V. Nucelis CEO and President Sean O’Connor will continue to lead the Nucelis operating unit as its CEO and will join the Cibus executive management team as a Senior Vice President of Cibus. Nucelis will continue to be the exclusive licensee to Cibus’ Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS®) technology in its key product areas of fermentation and bio-based chemicals.
“Cibus’ acquisition of the outstanding equity in Nucelis consolidates the innovative capabilities of the RTDS technology under a single entity. This synergy will enable greater opportunities to develop novel traits and products for a broader range of applications,” Walker said. “The RTDS technology has achieved significant advancements, and the company is now poised to make meaningful progress with agricultural, biomedical and industrial traits.”
“Nucelis is looking forward to enhanced access to Cibus’ significant technical capabilities and resources from this partnership. The merger will allow us to accelerate commercialization from our product platforms using RTDS technology which will flourish in a global community concerned about sustainability,” O’Connor said.
Cibus was founded with the vision of developing precision gene editing systems, led by its non-transgenic RTDS technology. This technology fulfills the promise of beneficial change in the development of agricultural, biomedical and industrial traits. Cibus US LLC will be launching its first product, Sulfonylurea tolerant (SU) canola, in 2014. Cibus is privately held by a committed group of investors who have enabled the development and protection of the Cibus technology.
Nucelis’ first product under development is squalane, a high value, clear oil compound used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and for specialty lubricants, now mainly harvested from shark livers or as a by-product of olive oil processing. Nucelis has patented a process to develop reliable quantities of squalane using a novel, sustainable, non-GM yeast fermentation process. This will remove concern over the impact on shark populations and unpredictability of annual olive oil processing volumes as olive is the only non-shark source of squalene, the immediate chemical precursor of squalane. Using the same yeast production platform, Nucelis is also developing a non-animal source of Vitamin D2 for persons who prefer a non-animal derived source of Vitamin D supplements.
Cibus® is a leading agricultural technology company that develops, and licenses gene edited plant traits to seed companies. Its traits enable farmers to manage productivity and sustainability challenges such as diseases, pests, weeds, fertilizer use and climate change. Cibus' goal is to use its trait technology to create a new generation of crops that are more adaptable to their environment and have increased yields while requiring less chemicals. Cibus' patented RTDS® technology platform has enabled agriculture's first standardized end-to-end gene editing trait prototype and production system: the Trait Machine™. The Trait Machine represents a technological breakthrough in plant breeding that broadens the range and scale of possible trait solutions that makes more diverse germplasm accessible, materially shortens trait breeding timelines, and shortens the time to market traits. Cibus' technologies and traits are accelerating agriculture's jump to a climate smart, more sustainable crop production system and the industry's move to sustainable lowcarbon ingredients.
Nucelis Inc. is a revolutionary bio-technology company built on a platform of unique, patented technology for optimizing cell structure and function. Nucelis’ vision is to change the way industry develops bio-based chemicals by utilizing nature’s own production factories such as plants, yeast, and bacteria. Nucelis starts with naturally-efficient organisms that already make a target chemical, and, by enhancing those natural processes, increases that organism’s production. Nucelis strives to use sustainable and recyclable feed stocks as starting materials resulting in a process that is less costly and more efficient.
For more information, contact Shawna Seldon, The Rosen Group, at 917 971 7852 or .