Evogene says Corteva terminates licensing agreement of Lavie Bio subsidiary

In a regulatory filing, Evogene (EVGN) announced that its subsidiary, Lavie Bio, received a notice of termination from Corteva Agriscience of the licensing agreement dated July 14, 2023 for bio fungicide lead candidates. This agreement is one of several collaboration programs between Corteva and Lavie Bio. According to the notice, Corteva decided to terminate the agreement without cause, as part of its internal review and strategic prioritization process, and to discontinue all activities related to the licensed technology. The termination will be effective ninety days from the date the notice was received. All other collaboration programs between Corteva and Lavie Bio continue as planned. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Lavie Bio received an initial payment from Corteva upon signing the agreement, which will not be repaid to Corteva because of the termination. Lavie Bio will regain all rights to the licensed technology and the lead bio-fungicide candidates. Lavie Bio intends to continue the development of its bio-fungicide pipeline, leveraging its proprietary computational predictive biology platform and its expertise in microbiome-based solutions for sustainable agriculture.