Cibus (CBUS) Sidoti Micro-Cap Virtual Conference summary

Industry overview and technology

• Gene editing in agriculture enables development of traits that improve farming efficiency and disease management, with traits indistinguishable from those found in nature.

• Regulatory shifts, including the EU's move to treat gene-edited crops like conventional breeding, are accelerating global adoption.

• The business model is royalty-based, licensing traits to seed companies across multiple crops.

• Multi-crop traits, such as herbicide resistance, offer significant royalty opportunities, with some traits generating billions annually.

• The technology reduces trait development time and cost from 16.5 years and $115M (GMO) to 3-5 years and $2M.

Product pipeline and market opportunity

• Six-trait pipeline targets major crops: rice, canola, soybean, wheat, and corn.

• Rice herbicide platform targets 6M acres in the Americas, with a $120M royalty potential; global expansion could multiply this.

• Canola platform includes pod shatter and disease resistance traits, with a $500M+ royalty opportunity.

• Soybean platform, with 200M acres globally, is expected to exceed $1B in royalties, with initial focus on sclerotinia resistance.

• Wheat and corn platforms are in development, with wheat expected to have customers and traits by year-end.

Competitive landscape and intellectual property

• Principal competition is Calyxt; both hold foundational gene-editing patents.

• Over 500 patents protect the process and products, creating a strong IP moat.

• The proprietary Trait Machine enables rapid, customer-specific gene edits within a year.