USDA Designates Cibus’ Herbicide Tolerance Canola Trait HT2 as Not Regulated Under USDA’s Biotechnology Regulations

June 06, 2025 at 09:26 AM EDT

SAN DIEGO, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the “Company”), a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies, announced today that its most recent trait for its herbicide tolerance trait (HT2) in Canola has been designated as “not regulated” by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) as Plant Pests or Which There is Reason to Believe Are Plant Pests, as described in 7 CFR part 340.

Dr. Peter Beetham, Co-Founder and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Cibus, stated, “HT2 represents an advanced multi-crop herbicide tolerance trait within Cibus’ pipeline of productivity and agronomic traits aimed at providing growers newer and more advanced tools to improve weed management,” Peter added, “We are encouraged by our pace of development and look forward to working with our partners to deliver our next generation herbicide tolerance traits to the market. The recent regulatory determinations from USDA-APHIS reflects our continued positive momentum, not only in the United States, but in international markets as well.”

Consistent with other Cibus developed and advanced traits developed utilizing Cibus’ Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS^®), this most recent USDA-APHIS regulatory determination, along with others recently announced, brings Cibus’ total number of traits designated as not regulated to seventeen.

Cibus’ traits benefit agriculture productivity and sustainability by enabling growers to improve their profitability and protect their yield. The HT2 trait in canola aims to offer a better and novel solution to address weeds resistant to widely-used herbicides. Broad acre crops like Canola and Soybean need weed management solutions that are more efficient and control weeds that can have a major effect on yield.

About Cibus

Cibus is a leader in gene edited productivity traits that address critical productivity and sustainability challenges for farmers such as diseases and pests which the United Nations estimates cost the global economy approximately $300 billion annually. Cibus’ long-term focus is productivity traits for major, large-acreage row crops. Cibus is not a seed company. It is a technology company that uses proprietary high-throughput gene editing technology to develop crop traits at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional breeding and to license them to seed companies in exchange for royalties on seed sales.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continue,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will,” or the negative of these terms and other similar terminology. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Cibus' operational performance, Cibus' strategy, future operations, prospects, and plans, including the anticipated receipt of commercial revenues and additional funding.

These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions of Cibus' management about future events, which are based on currently available information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond the control of Cibus. Cibus' actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements could be materially different than those expressed, implied, or anticipated by forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: Cibus' need for additional near-term funding to finance its activities and challenges in obtaining additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all; changes in expected or existing competition; challenges to Cibus' intellectual property protection and unexpected costs associated with defending intellectual property rights; increased or unanticipated time and resources required for Cibus' platform or trait product development efforts; Cibus' reliance on third parties in connection with its development activities; challenges associated with Cibus' ability to effectively license its productivity traits and sustainable ingredient products; the risk that farmers do not recognize the value in germplasm containing Cibus' traits or that farmers and processors fail to work effectively with crops containing Cibus' traits; delays or disruptions in the Company's platform or trait product development efforts, particularly with respect to its non-Rice and non-disease projects in light of the Company's realigned strategic priorities; challenges that arise in respect of Cibus' production of high-quality plants and seeds cost effectively on a large scale; Cibus' dependence on distributions from Cibus Global, LLC to pay taxes and cover its corporate and overhead expenses; regulatory developments that disfavor or impose significant burdens on gene-editing processes or products; delays and uncertainties regarding regulatory developments in the European Union; Cibus' ability to achieve commercial success; commodity prices and other market risks facing the agricultural sector; technological developments that could render Cibus' technologies obsolete; changes in macroeconomic and market conditions, including inflation, supply chain constraints, and rising interest rates; dislocations in the capital markets and challenges in accessing liquidity and the impact of such liquidity challenges on Cibus' ability to execute on its business plan; and other important factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Cibus' Annual Report on Form 10-K which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 21, 2024. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements.

In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Cibus' views as of the date hereof. Cibus specifically disclaims any obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Cibus' views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.

CIBUS CONTACTS:

INVESTOR RELATIONS
Karen Troeber
ktroeber@cibus.com
858-450-2636

Jeff Sonnek – ICR
jeff.sonnek@icrinc.com

MEDIA RELATIONS
media@cibus.com

Colin Sanford
colin@bioscribe.com
203-918-4347

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USDA Designates Cibus’ Herbicide Tolerance Canola Trait HT2 as Not Regulated Under USDA’s Biotechnology Regulations

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