Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
December 17, 2015

Vestaron Corporation, the leading developer of peptide-based insecticides, announced today that it has received U.S. EPA approval to delete the bee toxicity warning statement from its SPEAR™ Biopesticide label following a review. The removal of the toxicity statement is supported by third-party topical and feeding evaluations that show SPEAR™ has no increased mortality or detrimental effects to honeybees.

The results of these studies were presented at an invited talk at the AgChem Summit 2015: Pollinators and Pesticides on December 2 in Arlington, VA.
After presenting the talk Robert Kennedy, Chief Scientific Officer at Vestaron commented, “It’s exciting to unveil our more environmentally compatible biopesticides which for the first time perform comparably to synthetic insecticides.”

John Sorenson, CEO of Vestaron added “This is a transformative time for Vestaron. We are leading the way in development of new insecticidal peptides with the 2016 commercialization of SPEAR™ for control of thrips in greenhouses. And in early 2016 we will be submitting additional data to the EPA on SPEAR™’s effects on beneficial insects used in greenhouses.”

The SPEAR™ family of bioinsecticides utilizes two new unique modes-of-action with no known resistance. This family of biopesticides is based on natural peptides which degrade to useful nutrients in the environment.

About Vestaron Corporation
Vestaron Corporation exploits the natural insecticidal properties of a class of peptides which have potent insect killing potential, but which are safe to humans, birds, fish and the environment. These peptides utilize new modes of action that have never before been used for insect control, and therefore do not suffer from insect resistance. In addition to the bioinsecticides, the Company is also leveraging its peptide technology with the development of traits and synthetics that also have a favorable safety spectrum. In 2015, Vestaron’s bioinsecticide technology received the inaugural Bernard Blum Award for Novel Biocontrol Solutions.

Vestaron is a venture-backed company that recently closed an oversubscribed Series C round of financing, totaling $14M.

Website: http://www.vestaron.com

Published: December 18, 2015