Moa announces successes in international field trials at the ACS Fall Conference in Denver

OXFORD, England, 20 August 2024 /PRNewswire/ — University of Oxford The spin-off Moa Technology has announced excellent results from field trials in several countries with promising new classes of herbicides whose novel mechanisms of action the company recently discovered.

Weeds pose a serious and growing threat to food security around the world. With over 270 species of weeds now resistant to commercially available herbicides and no new broad-spectrum herbicides coming to market in the last forty years, farmers around the world are running out of tools to protect their crops.

In a presentation to the American Chemical Society in Denver, Colorado Titled “Discovering and developing the next generation of herbicides with novel mechanisms of action,” Moa revealed that all chemical classes tested in trials earlier this year showed promising efficacy in the field, showing consistent and robust results across multiple field trials and climates. The trials were conducted both pre- and post-emergence on wheat, corn and soybean and showed a good weed-crop selectivity window that allows for further optimization. Moa’s compounds controlled problem weeds such as amaranth sp. (foxtail), Bassia sp. (Kochia) and/or Setaria sp. (foxtail) above the commercially relevant efficacy benchmark (> 85% control) at application rates ranging from 1000 g/ha to 250 g/ha. Two of the herbicide candidates demonstrated better control of broadleaf weeds and grasses on a gram-for-gram basis than existing commercial herbicides in most of their field trials. A third chemical class, at an earlier stage of development, demonstrated good control of broadleaf weeds in field trials at slightly higher application rates.

Following the trials, Moa has already begun optimising the chemistry and formulation of these herbicides to develop them into products that are more cost-effective, effective, sustainable and require less effort for farmers. Further trials will take place in the Southern Hemisphere later this year, as well as initial field trials of other compounds from Moa's extensive research and development pipeline.

Moa’s H1 2024 field trial program included 45 trials of industry-standard randomized block experiments involving multiple classes of chemicals previously validated in the laboratory and tested in greenhouses. The trials were conducted by independent contract research organizations in California, Tennessee, Spain, France and Great Britain, covering agricultural production in three different major climatic zones.

Presenting the data at the ACS conference, Dr. Shuji HachisuChief Technology Officer at Moa, said:

“We are very pleased with these field trial results. They are an excellent validation of our unique approach to herbicide discovery. Our compounds have demonstrated efficacy well beyond what would normally be expected from candidates whose chemistry and formulation have not yet been fully optimized. This is great news for farmers who are looking for a new generation of novel, effective, safe, cost-effective and sustainable products to control resistant and problematic weeds.”

Spun from University of Oxford In 2017, Moa developed proprietary technology to discover a whole new generation of synthetic and bioherbicidal compounds based on novel modes of action, providing farmers with safe, cost-effective and technologically advanced solutions at a pace that weeds cannot match. Over the past three years, Moa's platform has already screened over 750,000 compounds and discovered over 70 promising new modes of action. In July 2024Moa has signed an important partnership with Nufarm to jointly develop and commercialize one of these new chemical series.

‍Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2484777/Moa_Technology_Compound.jpg

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