The rise of Biotalys, or how llama-derived technology is making agriculture sustainable
The rise of Biotalys: llama-derived technology that's making agriculture sustainable
There it is, your box of fresh strawberries, looking irresistible as always. But if you dig a bit deeper, there are traces of fuzzy gray mold. Sounds familiar, right? The culprit is Botrytis cinerea, a common fungus that also causes grapevine rot. For growers, molds like these can lead to major yield losses. If it depends on Biotalys - and it probably does - growers will soon have a new tool available to fight plant diseases and to take on many age-old crop challenges. The VIB spin-off is developing a new class of biological, sustainable crop protection products, making use of a cutting-edge technology platform based on … llama antibodies.
Biotalys is currently one of the most promising Flemish biotech companies. Not only agricultural companies and fruit growers, but also investors are keeping a close eye on the company. In 2021 Biotalys went public, raising nearly 53 million euro. This capital is needed to further develop its product pipeline and commercialize its first product, Evoca™.
Evoca™ holds great promise for protecting strawberries, wine grapes, melons, eggplants, and tomatoes against Botrytis fungus and powdery mildew, another frequently occurring fungal disease. The product is currently awaiting regulatory approval in the US and the EU. The biofungicide is planned to hit the American market at the end of 2022, and the European market two years later.
The innovators
Proteins inspired by mother nature
The very origin of Biotalys dates back to 1989. It was by coincidence that two scientists, Serge Muyldermans and the late VUB professor Raymond Hamers, stumbled upon the remarkable structure of camelid antibodies, which soon proved to offer huge potential for a wide variety of applications. During the nineties, this so-called Nanobody® technology was further developed at VIB and VUB and gave rise to a VIB spin-off: Ablynx.
Gradually, it became clear that llama-derived antibodies could also be applied to fight plant disease in agriculture. Years of consecutive research in nanobody technology in the laboratory of Prof. Jan Steyaert at the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology finally led to a plethora of start-ups. One of them was AgroSavfe, founded in 2013 to explore the use of this antibody-technology in agriculture. Its mission: to apply these small "proteins designed-by-nature" with the capabilities to bind with essential parts of plant pathogens, thus eliminating their threat.
Luc Maertens joined the start-up in 2017. As a veteran in the Flemish biotech ecosystem and VIB alumnus, Luc built his career at Devgen, another VIB spin-off, where he led the R&D Innovation Center when the company was acquired by the Swiss multinational Syngenta in 2012. "I have always been an ardent believer in the AGROBODY Foundry™ technology," says Luc about the work at Biotalys. "It is probably one of the few technologies that allows designing biocontrols to be highly effective and selective. Being able to turn this disruptive technology into innovative products with impact on sustainable food protection is a daily motivator for me."
According to Luc, VIB served as a hotbed to expand the research and technology into tangible solutions. "The Flemish agricultural biotech cluster has been a vibrant environment for companies like ours. For our R&D processes and lab facilities, we were - and are - able to count on VIB's Core Facilities. And let's not forget the huge talent pool nearby. In our world-class schools, young potentials have the possibility to flourish, after which they can pursue a career in a university, a VIB lab, or in the industry."
Fighting crop loss and pathogen resistance
Between 2017 and 2021, the company added further developments to its business lines. Luc: "Our technology platform enables us to develop a wide range of biocontrols that protect crops against insects, fungal, or bacterial diseases. As such, we are not limited to specific market segments. This is exactly why our solutions are so promising: we have the potential to completely disrupt conventional agricultural solutions."
This disruption is happening as we speak. One of the key drivers is changing legislation, as governments are systematically restricting the use of chemical pesticides and fungicides. In Europe alone, 22 traditional chemicals were recently banned, and the European Commission is planning to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030.
As a result, many farmers and growers are looking for effective alternatives. Luc: "In addition to reducing food waste, our products also provide growers with tools to produce safer food and reduce chemical residues, in an economical viable way. This is a key element in an evolution we are seeing now: many insects and pathogens are increasingly building up resistance against existing crop protection products."
As a consequence, biologicals have become a rapidly growing segment. While only having a 6% share in the total market for crop protection worldwide, they are growing at an average rate of 13% per year. That's four times faster than chemical crop protection.
On the brink of an agricultural revolution
In 2019, the company changed its name into Biotalys - from quite the tongue twister into a new corporate identity. The rebranding came at the time when the final development stage of its first biofungicide was approaching. One year later, Biotalys managed to raise another 45 million euro in financing, needed for its more than 200 field and greenhouse trials and regulatory studies.
The year 2021 can be considered a grand cru for Biotalys: the biofungicide Evoca™ was first submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States for approval, soon followed by a submission in the European Union. In mid-2021, the company went public, raising almost 53 million euro in fresh capital.
According to Luc, the successful IPO and swift product development is a clear marker of bright perspectives. "Our Ghent-based team, currently 70 people strong, is as ambitious and optimistic as I am. On top of Evoca™, we're currently developing six other candidate products. Of course, the road towards official approval is a long and rocky one. But in the next 10 years, you'd better keep an eye on us. Because we're poised to be yet another VIB agricultural biotech success story."