Pasteuria Bioscience announced that it has received registration from the US Environmental Protection Agency for Pasteuria usgae. This is a critical step towards the commercial use of Pasteuria spp., a natural bacteria prevalent in soil that have long been recognized as promising biological control agents for plant-parasitic nematodes.
“We’re very pleased to receive this EPA registration,” said David Duncan, Ph.D., chief executive officer for Pasteuria Bioscience. “It confirms Pasteuria usgae as a safe, effective and an environmentally-friendly agent for sting nematode control.”
Pasteuria spp. was first discovered over 50 years ago and identified as an effective agent for nematode control. Scientists have considered Pasteuria to be among the most promising biological agents for control of plant-parasitic nematodes, but until recently, no one was able to grow Pasteuria outside of the body of a nematode. Thus, it could not be produced cost-effectively on a commercial scale. Pasteuria Bioscience has developed a revolutionary new technology that allows the rapid and cost-effective growth of multiple strains of Pasteuria manufactured through traditional fermentation methods.
The Society of Nematology and other organizations estimate global crop losses due to nematodes at $100 billion annually making it agriculture’s largest unmet pest control need. With current nematicides being voluntarily removed from the market due to safety and environmental concerns, few nematicide options exist to meet this demand. The registration of Pasteuria spp. is important in offering environmentally safe, cost-effective and reliable nematode control products helping to fill the niches that will be vacated by current nematicides.
With a robust pipeline of product candidates based on Pasteuria technology, this registration is the first of many to come. P. usgae is a highly efficacious biological nematicide and will be targeted for control of sting nematode in the golf, sports turf and landscape markets.
“This first step is important for Pasteuria Bioscience and serves as validation of the credibility of Pasteuria-derived products. We’re confident about the future of this technology as an important tool to help growers control nematodes in a variety of crops and regions of world,” said Duncan.
About Pasteuria Bioscience
Pasteuria Bioscience, Inc. was founded in 2003 in the University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator. The company was developed out of Entomos, Inc., to commercialize its revolutionary technology for production of nematode control products based on Pasteuria technology.