Evogene Ltd. (EVGN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Evogene's Third Quarter 2020 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded November 18, 2020. Before we begin, I would like to caution that certain statements made during this earnings conference call by Evogene and Evogene's subsidiaries management will constitute forward-looking statements that relate to future events, risks and uncertainties regarding business strategy, operations and future performance and results of Evogene. These statements may be identified by words such as may, could, expects, intends, anticipates, plans, believes, schedules, estimates or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statements in this earnings conference call when it discusses its and its subsidiaries' targets, objectives, pipeline and goals and the expected timing thereof; its support of its subsidiaries; the sufficiency of its funding to achieve key objectives and to continue to enhance and expand its Computational Predictive Biology platform; its estimated cash usage for 2020; capturing the value of its technologies and subsidiaries; entering into collaboration agreements; its upcoming milestones; and potential alternatives to capitalize on the company's subsidiaries' achievements. I encourage you to review Evogene's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and read the note regarding forward-looking statements in their earnings releases, which states that statements made in those earnings releases and, in a similar way, on this earnings conference call that are not historical facts may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of the announcement of results. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. Many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including without limitation, the global spread of COVID-19 or the coronavirus, the various restrictions deriving therefrom and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authorities. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely and expect to rely on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field trials and preclinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with the regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, including as a result of the effect of the coronavirus, Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries are under no obligation to update publicly or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Evogene and its subsidiaries expressly disclaim any obligation to do so. More detailed information about the risk factors potentially adversely impacting our performance can be found in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That said, I would now like to turn over the call to Ofer Haviv, Evogene's CEO. Ofer, please go ahead.

Thank you and good day, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for our third quarter 2020 conference call. Joining me today is Ms. Dorit Kreiner, our CFO; and Dr. Elran Haber, CEO of our subsidiary, Biomica. I will begin my comments today by providing an overview of the company's various activities, some context to our recent fundraising and discussing our plans to unlock the value of our subsidiaries. I will then hand the call over to Elran to discuss Biomica's activity in more detail, focusing specifically on its immuno-oncology program and the recent progress. Following Elran's comments, Dorit will summarize Evogene's financial results for the third quarter of 2020. We will then open the call for your questions. Before I begin my comments, I would like to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Evogene's operation. I'm pleased to say that to date, the impact has been minimal. As of today, the company has resumed full activity. While we are fully operational, I want to ensure our shareholders that the company and its employees are working in compliance with the restrictions and guidelines provided by the Israeli health authorities and other applicable governmental authorities and we continue to do so. So let's start. I would like to begin by taking this opportunity to thank our shareholders, new and old, for the continued support of the company. As the company enters a new area, advancing its technological platform through 3 product solutions, MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI and GeneRator AI, and with its subsidiaries progressing towards development of valuable assets and commercialization, we hope to continue to earn your confidence. For our new investors, I would like to give a brief overview of our company's activities. As you know, Evogene's vision is to revolutionize life science product development by utilizing computational biology technologies. We saw many complex challenges associated with the development of biological-based products, including high development costs, long development times and most importantly, low probability of success. We believe that now is the right time to leverage the revolution in the computational world to biology. Over the last decade, at an investment of tens of millions of dollars incorporating big scientific understanding together with big data and artificial intelligence, Evogene has developed a unique Computational Predictive Biology platform. This proprietary technology is called the CPB platform. Today, building on this technology, Evogene has 3 product solutions that we believe will help to accelerate and direct life science product development based on the following core components: micro, small molecules and genetic elements called MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI and GeneRator AI, respectively. We aim to capture the value of these 3 solutions through 2 avenues: product development through partnerships at the parent company level and current development through our subsidiaries. Throughout Evogene's early years, we focused largely on the first avenue, partnering with leading companies for defined products using Evogene technology, while later-stage development and consolidation of the product was typically undertaken by the partners. This avenue was our main business model until about 2014. During those years, Evogene was engaged with leading ag companies, including Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta, mainly for the development of new GMO seed traits. Looking forward, we aim to engage in partnerships along this business model in additional market segments. The second avenue for capturing the value of Evogene's technology is product development through its subsidiaries. Evogene established subsidiaries to focus on defined commercial field with an exclusive license to use the CPB platform in their respective field of activity. I would like to emphasize that these subsidiaries may commercialize their future products either independently or with partners according to the product type and end markets. Some of these strategic partnerships, Evogene's subsidiaries forged ahead, are world-leading companies such as BASF and Corteva. Today, Evogene has several main subsidiaries under this business model as follows: In the area of human health, we have Biomica, which aims to provide therapeutics based on microbe that exist in the human gut. Currently, Biomica has 3 main product programs based on microbes: the first, to improve the efficacy of immune therapy; the second, to provide therapeutics for IBD; and the third, to provide therapeutics for IBS. The latter 2 of which are GI-related disorders. Evogene holds approximately 90% of Biomica. During the quarter, Biomica announced positive preclinical results in immuno-oncology program. These results showed that Biomica live biotherapeutic drug candidate, BMC128, given trial to and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitor, significantly improved anti-tumor activity. This program was further strengthened by the initiation of scale-up and GMP batch production of BMC128, which we also announced during the quarter in order to support Biomica's anticipated first-in-man proof-of-concept clinical trial to be initiated next year. Elran, who will be speaking in a few moments, will give more information on this program and other programs that Biomica is advancing. The second company in the area of human health is Canonic, active in the area of medical cannabis. Canonic aims to develop 2 types of products: the first is MetaYield, cannabis varieties with overall increased yield, and the second is Precise, increased yield of specific compounds in the plant to address medical indication such as inflammation and pain. Evogene holds 100% of Canonic. Canonic recently announced that it has received approval from the Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency for the propagation of medical cannabis seedlings. This will allow Canonic to proceed with the execution of its commercialization plan. As you might recall, Canonic aims to release its first product in Israel in 2022. Moving on to agriculture. The first company in this area is AgPlenus, which is active in the development of ag chemicals. AgPlenus is focused on the development of 2 main types of crop protection products: novel-mode-of-action herbicides and new-type-of-action insecticides. Evogene holds approximately 98% of AgPlenus. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Doug Eisner for joining AgPlenus in September as its new CEO. Doug brings over 20 years of versatile business and legal experience, previously holding various senior leadership roles and leading successful fundraising rounds and a company acquisition. I have no doubt that Doug will have an important contribution to the success of this company and achieving its targets in the next few years, focusing on advancing our strategic relationship with Corteva and BASF and advancing our internal novel herbicide pipeline. The second company in agriculture is Lavie Bio, focused ag-biologicals. Within this field, the company is focused on 2 main types of live microbial products: the first is bio-stimulants, which when applied to the plant, improved its performance; the second is bio-pesticide, which when applied to the plant, protects it from pests such as fungi and insects. Evogene holds approximately 72% in Lavie Bio with Corteva, the world-leading ad company, holding the remain 28% following its investment in the company in 2019. Lavie Bio recently announced positive results in its bio-fungicide program for LAV311 and LAV312. The positive results were achieved in series of vineyard trials for bunch rot disease conducted in Europe and the United States, and show vineyard treated with each of LAV311 and LAV312 demonstrated 60% to 70% reduction in crop damage in comparison to the control. I would like to note that this was only a short overview of the company and its subsidiaries. We have prepared some great informational materials on each of these subsidiaries and I urge you to view the presentation section on our website to view these materials. Moving on, I would like to provide some more information on Evogene's recent fundraising activity. I would like to start by emphasizing that over the years, Evogene has taken a very disciplined approach to its capital allocation and the company has made significant developmental progress over the years with the resources it had. During the past year, the subsidiary's advancement was very rapid and in certain areas even exceeded plans. Therefore, we decided to raise additional funds in order to support those ambitious business targets. I'm pleased to say that Evogene recently completed 2 rounds of fundraising totaling $22 million. I'm also pleased to say that the investors that took part in those fundraising are top-tier institutional investors, including ARK Invest. I would like to note for those of you who are not familiar that ARK is one of the world's leading innovation funds investing in the technologies of tomorrow and we are honored to be part of their distinguished portfolio. As published, Evogene intends to use the net proceeds from the fundraising to further develop its and its subsidiaries' product pipeline to enhance and expand its Computational Predictive Biology platform and for working capital and general corporate purposes. Looking forward as a whole, we intend to continue to be capital-efficient while working towards our business targets, which include the following: In Biomica we intend to support preclinical and clinical trials; in Canonic, we intend to support development of unique varieties as well as cultivation and commercialization of its medical cannabis products; in AgPlenus, we intend to support herbicide development towards the stage of optimized lead as well as expand the insecticide program; in Lavie Bio, we intend to support the route to commercialization of wheat bio-stimulant as well as support the product development in its bio-pesticide program. Evogene also intends to enhance and expand its product solutions, MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI, GeneRator AI, in order to maintain the technological and computational competitive advantage. Likewise, Evogene expects to extend its efforts in genome editing and to capitalize on its legacy seed trait activities. With both these rounds of fundraising, we believe that Evogene and its subsidiaries have the fund to support their near-term business objectives, including reaching important milestones such as initial sales in Lavie Bio and Canonic, and valuable assets in AgPlenus' and Biomica's product pipelines. I also would like to mention that these capital raisers bring us closer to the opportunity to add the value of our subsidiaries. Reaching the important development milestone we outlined in our company presentation could put our subsidiaries in an attractive situation and capitalize on their achievements such as in the form of investment of a strategic or financial partner, M&A or even an IPO. To summarize, it has been a very productive quarter for Evogene and we are pleased with the advancements made in our subsidiaries despite the objective difficulties COVID-19 has presented. I would like to once more thank our investor community for their support in the company. I will now turn the call over to Dr. Elran Haber, CEO of Biomica. Elran?

Thank you, Ofer. I'm happy to be on the call today. Let's start with a short introduction on Biomica. Biomica is an emerging pharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, immune-mediated and infectious disease. Biomica's underlying premise is that our gut microbiome, or basically the microbes that live in our guts, has an impact on our health and play a significant role in the wide area of illnesses. This has been well documented in a scientific literature and is supported by increasing body of clinical evidence. The main question that most of the microbiome companies are now facing is to know how to identify the microbes that provide the desired effect. Biomica aims to answer this question through the use of computational biology. At Biomica, we aim to discover and develop novel therapies for microbiome-related human disorders using the rationally based design approach enabled by Computational Predictive Biology. In this regard, Biomica has exclusive access to the Evogene's proprietary technology the CPB platform, which was developed over the past decade in an investment of tens of millions of dollars. The potential of the microbiome is clear to the big pharma and virtually every company now is taking a stake in this space. Since 2014, more than $4 billion has been invested in microbiome companies, rapidly growing with the projected 70% of compound annual growth rate. According to recent market report, the microbiome market space provides a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. Biomica is focused on the unmet high-value clinical programs, including 3 domains: the first is immuno-oncology, immunotherapy; the second are GI-related disorders, gastrointestinal-related disorders; and the third are antimicrobial resistance. In our call today, I would like to focus mainly on our immuno-oncology program. It has been shown in various studies published in the scientific literature that one of the key reasons that some patients may not respond to immunotherapy is due to the differences in their patient's microbiome. One example of this, which you might have heard of, is the use of FMT, FMT stands for fecal microbiota transplantation, in which out of 2 groups described, some patients who initially did not respond to immunotherapy drugs showed positive response after receiving a stool donation from patients for whom the drug worked. The main unresolved question is exactly which microbes helped to obtain the desired immune activity. Our program's initial target is to identify the microbes which can improve the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors, or IPI shortly, that are the leading therapies today for cancer patients. Using Biomica's computational biology platform, PRISM, which is empowered by Evogene's MicroBoost AI, we were able to actually design 2 live bacterial products, each comprised of 4 unique bacterial strains which are natural inhabitants of the human intestinal track. These strains harbor specific functional capabilities which have the potential to enhance immunological therapeutic responses and facilitate anti-tumor immune activity through multiple biological processes. Rationally-designed, the bacterial consortia are multi-strain products designed to restore the diversity and specific functionality to the host's microbial community. These drug candidates were tested together with immune checkpoint inhibitors in a preliminary preclinical trial in 2019 and presented a positive result with improved anti-tumor activity in mind. After a careful analysis of these results, we decided to focus on 4 strains right from our initial 2 drug candidates with the highest functionality. This led to the design of our leading drug candidate, BMC128. In 2020, we continued with a broader preclinical trials, testing our drug candidate in various dosing protocols not only in addition to immunotherapy but also as a pretreatment or prior to the immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. In this trial, the animals were divided into various frequent routes and BMC128 was administrated to mice bearing cancer tumors prior and during ICI therapy. In September of this year, we announced the positive results of these trials, demonstrating that the treatment with BMC128 prior and in combination with the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors significantly reduced the tumor volume and increased animal survivor compared to immune checkpoint therapy alone. It seems that Biomica's bacterial consortia administered prior to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy primed the immune system for an efficient and well-orchestrated anti-tumor response, ultimately leading to the most reduced tumor volume and the best survival rate out of all groups. The response to the combination treatment was 50% higher in comparison to the group that received only immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Looking forward in 2021, the company aims to enter proof-of-concept clinical trials in Israel. For this purpose, Biomica contracted the services of Biose Industrie, a leading France CDMO for a scale of production of our microbes according to GMP standards. The large-scale production of our leading drug candidate, BMC128, has been initiated following the successful completion of the initial R&D stage of the drug product development and manufacturing. Now I would like to update you that we are currently in discussions with a number of leading medical centers in Israel regarding conducting this proof-of-concept study, pilot study, in 2021. In regards to our other programs, just a quick note. We are currently advancing our IBD program in the preclinical phase, having initiated new preclinical studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the lab of Professor Balfour Sartor, who is a Biomica Scientific Advisory Board member. And he's one of the leading researchers and thought leaders in IBD in the U.S. In regards to our IBS program, this is progressing according to the plans and we are currently concluding the discovery phase with the computational identification of microbes with the desired functionality to address this disorder. I would like to end by mentioning that we have recently been seeing an announcement of companies in the microbiome space regarding positive Phase III clinical data. These announcements provide strong validation for the utilization of microbiome therapeutics and help to validate Biomica's science and clinical approach and demonstrate the potential value proposition of Biomica. With that, I would like to turn over the call to Dorit.

Thank you, Elran. I will begin by reviewing our cash balance, which includes approximately $43.5 million in consolidated cash, cash-related accounts and bank deposits as of September 30, 2020. This amount includes a $10 million investment received by the company during September. I would like to add that approximately $13.6 million of Evogene's consolidated cash is attributed to its subsidiary, Lavie Bio. The September 30 cash balance does not include an additional investment of $12 million received after the date of the financial report. During the first 9 months of 2020, the consolidated net cash usage was approximately $13.4 million or $9.3 million if excluding Lavie Bio. During the third quarter, the consolidated net cash usage was approximately $4.6 million or $3 million if excluding Lavie Bio. For the full year of 2020, we continue to estimate that our net cash usage, excluding cash usage of our subsidiary Lavie Bio, will be within the range of $13 million to $15 million. The company does not have bank debt. Let's now turn to the statement of operations. R&D expenses for the third quarter of 2020 were approximately $4 million in comparison to $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2019. R&D expenses were mainly attributed to preclinical trials in Biomica, field trials for Lavie Bio and strengthening Evogene's technology with new capabilities. General and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2020 were $1.2 million in comparison to $0.9 million in the third quarter of 2019. This increase is mostly attributed to an increase in the cost of company's D&O insurance. Operating loss for the third quarter of 2020 was $5.6 million in comparison to $4.9 million. The increase in loss is attributed to the aforementioned operating expenses. The loss for the third quarter of 2020 was $5.4 million in comparison to a loss of $4.5 million during the third quarter of 2019. The increase in loss is attributed to the increase in operating expenses and a decrease in the net financing income. With that said, we would like now to open up the call for any question you may have. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Kristen Kluska of Cantor Fitzgerald.

Hope you're all doing healthy and well at this time. So I had a few questions related to Biomica. So the first is regarding this BMC128 data, could you please discuss what some of the remaining preclinical work that you're hoping to conduct is? And then how are you starting to think about some of the early thoughts related to the proof-of-concept studies next year? So for example, how long do you think it takes for BMC128 to condition the immune system? And then given the unique nature of microbiome-based medicines, how do you think about testing different dose levels and disease states of these patients considering that's a limitation for a lot of other therapies in development right now?

Sure. Thank you, Kristen. So as for BMC128, we have conducted a number of preclinical studies so far and we are aiming now mainly to optimize the dosing regimen for BMC128 and to evaluate the effectiveness of this drug candidate in additional tumor types. So this is in part what we are doing in means of preclinical trials. As for our intended proof of concept in humans, this is something that we announced is aimed to be in 2021, the second half of 2021, in which we are currently scaling the production and preparing the clinic that's best for its proof-of-concept study. I would say that in means of how we are addressing the doses, I think one of the things that is related to our unique approach in which we are trying to minimize the number of strains that we are providing the patient in order to obtain the desired therapeutic effect. So we are basically trying to maintain the standards of dosing in means of microbes, but since we are using less number of strains, eventually the drug product would be something that could be more easily administered to patients. So I think this is in part. We are evaluating a number of different dosing as well in preclinical models. So this is some insights that we are -- we'll have more in the recent -- in the near future.

And then on your comment related to looking at different tumor types here. I was wondering if we could take a step back, and I know initial focus might include NSCLC, but broadly speaking, how do you look at the landscape? So for example, which cancer type would you view as having the greatest unmet need based off of the low response rates that are observed for immune checkpoint inhibitors alone?

So obviously, non-small cell lung cancer is one of the tumor -- the unmet medical need that obviously needs to be addressed since the response rate in this type of cancer is very low. But we are also aiming for other types of solid tumors. So one of the things that we are evaluating now is the effectiveness in RCC. We know based on the data that we worked from the clinical data source that we analyzed that RCC and non-small cell lung cancer basically obtained the same results for us. So we are pretty certain that it could be an additional indication that we could pursue. Also, I think that other types of solid tumors as melanoma could be relevant. So we are not necessarily limited to non-small cell lung cancer, and potentially the proof of concept that we'll conduct could include patients from various types of solid tumors.

The next question is from [ Stephen Goldman ].

Congratulations on the progress you've made over the last number of months. It's been quite impressive. I have a few questions regarding Biomica, AgPlenus and Lavie Bio. And with respect to Biomica, when are you planning to provide more detailed data from your preclinical trials that you've conducted?

Stephen, thank you for the question. So we've shared some additional data in the recent presentation that was shared by Evogene and I think once -- the new update was also in the call today. So we've announced that we've received a 50% additional response in comparison to the immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. But we are planning to present the entire set of results in one of the most, I would say, important conferences in the microbiome space which will be the largest European microbiome conference which will be in January, and we'll present the entire results in this conference.

Okay. Also I look forward to hearing that data. Can you provide just a little explanation of sort of the process in Israel, you referred to it as the proof-of-concept pilots. I take it as similar to a Phase I study that you would see in the U.S.?

So it's, I would say, not identical but it's similar to Phase I, Phase IIa kind of study. Basically, we have a small group of patients that will be dosed, so it will be patients, cancer patients not health individuals. The numbers will be approximately between 10 to 15 patients. All of them failed prior immunotherapy and we will treat them with the combo treatment of our microbe BMC128 and immunotherapy. It will take place in one of the leading medical centers in Israel, at least one of them. We are now evaluating maybe to extend to additional sites in Israel, but this is something that currently is under discussion, if you have additional questions regarding this.

No. That's fine. I guess we'll learn more about the process as time goes on. But what plans do you have to take this to the U.S.? And are you going to use the data from the -- I guess, your initial Israeli study to get an IND in the U.S.?

Absolutely, yes. So I think one of our objectives in this Israeli study is not only just to evaluate the safety, tolerability and to some extent the efficacy but it will be also to collect data that we could use in our IND discussion with the FDA and to initiate our studies in the U.S., I believe, in 2022. So that's the main idea. I think one of the advantages working in Israel is it will allow us to get quicker first-in-man studies and to be able to use the data that will be collected from the study in our discussions with the U.S. FDA.

Okay. Great. And finally, my last question for you, Elran, is do you have any comments or observations you can make as to why you think Biomica's approach with its -- I guess its 4-strand microbiome therapeutic candidate would do better than, for example, one of your competitors is using a single-strand microbiome candidate also for immunotherapy?

Definitely, yes. So I think one of the advantages working with a rationally designed live biotherapeutic product in comparison to a single-strain method is the ability to provide a patient with a targeted functional combination and combo functional combinations. So we are aiming to affect the disease by a number of modes of actions. And a single strain is limited by the number of modes of action that it could affect by combining and providing more strains but with a certain amount, not providing dozens because it could actually provide us with a higher risk potential. We are basically enhancing the potency, the effectiveness of this drug product in comparison to a single-strain method in which you are basically limited by the number of those modes of actions that this single microbe could affect.

I see. Well we look forward to seeing your data as it comes out. I have a couple of questions regarding AgPlenus. Does this go back to Ofer?

Yes.

In your press release, in discussing the use of the $22 million of funds recently raised, you discussed that some of the funds will be used for AgPlenus' development of its herbicide. I assume that's HERB32 from a lead to an optimized lead. But you're -- I have not seen, and perhaps I've missed this, is HERB32 now officially a lead?

So the answer is no. We didn't officially announce our candidate as a leader. We are now collecting the data from the field experiment conducted by a third party in U.S.A. And we are expecting to finalize this process including the statistics, hopefully, in the next 2 weeks. And I hope that on these results, we can announce, hopefully, achieving the lead phase. So when we mentioned -- and yes, this is what's included, we are planning to use part from the money you raised to support this candidate to move from the lead to optimized lead stage. It was based on the assumption, hopefully, that we will get a positive result. We are all expecting to see what is the result with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of excitement because it's going to be an important step for AgPlenus. Still I would like to mention that the real gap between lead and optimized lead, which this is the next step that I had mentioned that we are going to support financially during next year. The Evogene is planning to support to the extent in achieving these targets because that's on the market analysis we did, that the value of optimized lead in the eyes of the bigger guys, it's quite significant compared to lead because you have more safety data, more efficacy data, more field trial data. And this is all the type of things that we can do and we can achieve them, assuming that we will achieve the lead stage. And especially I'm feeling comfortable because I'm relying on Evogene's technology to optimize, if needed, our lead component. So to summarize, yes, we are going to support AgPlenus' activity moving from lead to optimized lead. We didn't announce yet that we reached the lead phase. It's something that we are planning to hopefully to be able to achieve until the end of this year and are really looking forward, assuming we achieve the target that lead also to optimized lead phase because this is where the big, big money is.

Yes. That's my understanding. I think your advanced candidate, HERB32, is that how you described it? I take it that, that would be a potential replacement for like Monsanto's -- or Bayer's Roundup? Is that right? Is my understanding correct?

Yes. This type of a product, again, one of the things that we now also validate it what is the type of weed that it's really effective against. What is really nice, and I really hope that we offer so we'll be able, based on the results, of course, to disclose the ability of our small molecules to address the resistance issue that was developed in different type of weed, which if you have not just an effective but also with the new-mode-of-action herbicide, this is to have a lot of value. Still there is a question, you need to validate in what geography it worked and what's the level of efficacy on the different weeds, but we are now feeling quite positive about the early results we received and we are looking forward to see. The additional results should come from our trials this year and next year.

Okay. Well I look forward to the news when it gets released. And finally, just a couple of questions regarding Lavie Bio. Your -- the most advanced product is your LAV211, which is a bio-stimulant. And if I recall, when I last was looking at this, you had hoped that you would be in commercial sales by early 2022. But what are your plans now in 2021, for next year, for LAV211?

So first, when we're now collecting the results from 2 areas where we conduct field trials for LAV211, first one is in the North Dakota, the second one is in Montana, and I believe that, again, until the end of this year, we will give a short update on our wheat program, spring wheat program and also some other programs that we are gathering the results and the statistics. So this is one thing that we are planning to do still this year. And next year, the idea is that we are going to validate our LAV211 in the commercial level, meaning that we are going to distribute LAV211 to big regular farmers. It's going to be apart from their ongoing activity and hopefully to see the results. And this will be probably the last phase before we can start the commercial activity for this product, which is expected, as we mentioned, to take place in 2022. So to summarize, next year, commercial field trials, big farmers are going to use this candidate.

Okay. And are you able to provide any feedback on the -- so that's the spring wheat market that you're initially going after. And are you able to provide any feedback on that size of that market in your marketing strategy?

So the result, for people that may be less aware, there is 2 type of wheat, spring wheat and the winter wheat. We are focusing on the spring wheat. It's the smaller market compared to the winter wheat, but still it's quite significant. We didn't disclose number, but our -- there is 2 options in how we can reach to the market with this product. We can use local distributors or we can work with one of the big companies. We are now evaluating these 2 channels. There is an interest in both direction from the other -- from big companies or from the local distributors. So we are in a good shape and validated 2 opportunities. When we get more close to the launch -- the commercial launch, I believe we can disclose more detailed information and what is our final decision.