OXFORD, UK & MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. Moa Technology and Nufarm are pleased to announce the start of the next phase of their collaboration to bring an exciting novel mode of action agricultural herbicide to the global market, reaching this stage over a year earlier than typical industry timelines.
The two companies have together assessed several promising novel mode of action compounds identified by Moa’s GALAXY discovery platform. These have demonstrated strong and consistent efficacy against some of the world’s most damaging and herbicide-resistant weeds over three seasons of field trials in North and South America, Australia and Europe. Moa and Nufarm are now working together at pace to characterize a broad-spectrum pre-emergence novel mode of action herbicide for selection as lead candidate and preparation for ultimate registration. This comes just 24 months after this novel mode of action area was first classified by Moa’s GALAXY platform and validated in its glasshouses.
Moa and Nufarm’s collaboration began in July 2024, when the two companies announced a research and commercial partnership to create a new, safe and effective herbicide capable of overcoming weed resistance. Weeds pose a serious threat to crops around the world, and there is urgent demand from farmers for innovative solutions to protect their harvests.
The collaboration deal gave Nufarm exclusive access to a compound in one of Moa’s novel mode of action chemical classes, in return for Moa receiving upfront payments, milestone development payments and eventual royalties from sales of the herbicide. Nufarm also retains an exclusive first option to commercialise other Moa compounds from the same mode of action area.
The initial research phase of the collaboration has been completed in just twelve months. During the next phase, the two companies will be conducting larger global field trials, crop use and safety studies, human and environmental safety testing, and optimising the product for commercial use.
Commenting on the deal, Moa Technology CEO Dr. Virginia Corless said:
“This outstanding progress shows just what can be achieved with a combination of world leading technology, capable of making novel discoveries at unprecedented speed, and an ambitious and visionary partner like Nufarm, which really understands how the needs of the market are evolving.”
Nufarm CEO Greg Hunt said:
“Working with Moa is a powerful example of how collaboration and partnership can accelerate innovation and bring forward solutions that create real, lasting value for farmers and growers and a more effective way of deploying our capital to improve shareholder returns.”
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About Moa Technology
Spun out of Oxford University in 2017, Moa Technology has developed a proprietary biological platform to discover a whole new generation of synthetic and bio-herbicidal compounds based on novel modes of action, to provide farmers with safe, cost-effective, technologically-advanced solutions at a pace weeds cannot match. In the last four years, Moa’s platform has already screened over 830,000 compounds and discovered 80 promising novel modes of action areas, with multiple candidates performing strongly and consistently over three seasons of international field trials.
About Nufarm
Nufarm is a global crop protection and seed technologies company that helps farmers and businesses meet the global challenges of food, feed, fibre, and sustainable fuel production. Nufarm brings its proven agility, innovation capabilities, and partnerships to help our its customers in a rapidly changing world. Established over 100 years ago, it is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:NUF) with its head office in Melbourne, Australia. Nufarm is the first company to develop and commercialise plant-based omega-3 and has developed and commercialised advanced bioenergy feedstock technology.