Companies team up to create environmentally friendly pesticide

Renaissance BioScience has partnered with crop protection company Certis Belchim to develop and commercialize an environmentally friendly pesticide.

The technology will target an as-yet-unspecified pest, according to a news release, and leverage Renaissance’s yeast-based RNA interference platform technology.

“Certis Belchim is a world leader in crop protection and biocontrol innovation and technologies, and we are delighted to be working with them to develop an effective and environmentally safe yeast-based RNAi biopesticide,” John Husnik, Renaissance’s chief strategy officer, said in the release.

Certis Belchim was created through the merger of Certis Europe B.V. and Belchim Crop Protection in 2022.

“Certis Belchim have committed and pursued innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture,” Jan Mostert, head of Biorational Projects of Certis Belchim, said. “The Renaissance RNA interference technology is highly innovative and will deliver products which come close to the idea of an ideal plant protection product in being very specific and very effective at the same time while also reconciling the often-contradicting goals of crop protection and protecting the environment and biodiversity.”