Capital Markets Event

Genus PLC

01 November 2023

 

For Immediate Release                                                                                               

1 November 2023

Genus plc

("Genus", the "Group" or the "Company")

Capital Markets Event - Delivering the PRRS Resistant Pig ("PRP")

Genus plc (LSE:GNS), a leading global animal genetics company, is hosting a Capital Markets Event ("CME") today at 10.00am in London for institutional investors and sell-side analysts.

Chief Executive Officer, Jorgen Kokke, and Chief Financial Officer, Alison Henriksen, will be joined by senior leaders from the Group's porcine division, Pig Improvement Company ("PIC"), to take a deep dive into the Group's pioneering PRRS* Resistant Pig ("PRP") programme and the path to commercialisation.

PRRS is the most economically significant disease affecting US pork production¹. Symptoms of PRRS include fever, respiratory distress, premature births and increased post wean mortality. Genus has demonstrated that its PRP is resistant to prevalent PRRS strains².

The Company is preparing for commercialisation of PRP whilst regulatory approvals in various countries are in progress. The Colombian government was the first to issue a positive determination for PRP last month, and, as previously outlined, Genus anticipates approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") in the first half of 2024.

Speakers at the event will outline:

·    The strength of PIC's platform; market-leading genetics, a well-invested global supply chain to disseminate PRP genetics to customers, deep relationships with long-term customers underpinned by the royalty model and a world class team

·    The technical performance of PRP genetics; how the CD163 gene edit works, why PIC's research shows it delivers PRRS resistance, the strong intellectual property position and how PIC breeds homozygous edited animals

·    The impact PRRS has on the pork value chain; PRRS is an increasingly endemic global disease affecting almost all major pork producing regions. Research suggests that more than 60% of US sow herds are PRRS positive at any given time³ and that the average cost to US pig farmers is approximately $6/pig

·    How PIC plans to disseminate PRP genetics; investments PIC has made in the PRP supply chain ahead of commercialisation and how dissemination to customer systems will work in practice once FDA and other regulatory approvals have been granted

·    PIC's strategy for driving market acceptance; how PIC is developing thoughtful and responsible messaging for all stakeholders in the pork value chain, the research investments PIC is making to quantitatively demonstrate the welfare and sustainability benefits, and the industry partners PIC is working with to communicate the shared benefits of PRP

·    The PRP regulatory timeline; progress being made with the FDA and regulatory bodies in other countries, including those that are important US export markets

·    The opportunity for Genus; the global market opportunity, the potential financial performance of PRP in the US and the prospect of compelling returns on Genus's investments

A copy of the CME presentation will be made available on the Group's investor relations website (https://www.genusplc.com/investors) and a recording of the event will be published as soon as practicable after the event.

 For further information please contact:

Genus plc            Tel: [phone]

Jorgen Kokke, Chief Executive Officer

Alison Henriksen, Chief Financial Officer

Anand Date, Investor Relations Director

Buchanan            Tel: [phone]

Charles Ryland; Chris Lane; Sophie Wills; Verity Parker

About Genus

Genus is a world-leading animal genetics company. Genus creates advances to animal breeding and genetic improvement by applying biotechnology and sells added value products for livestock farming and food producers. Its technology is applicable across livestock species and is currently commercialised by Genus in the dairy, beef and pork food production sectors.

Genus's worldwide sales are made in over seventy-five countries under the trademarks 'ABS' (dairy and beef cattle) and 'PIC' (pigs) and comprise semen, embryos and breeding animals with superior genetics to those animals currently in farms. Genus's customers' animals produce offspring with greater production efficiency, and quality, and use these to supply the global dairy and meat supply chains.

The Group's competitive edge has been created from the ownership and control of proprietary lines of breeding animals, the biotechnology used to improve them and its global supply chain, technical service and sales and distribution network.

With headquarters in Basingstoke, United Kingdom, Genus companies operate in over twenty-five countries on six continents, with research laboratories located in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

* Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus

1 "Swine Disease Manual" (4^th Edition), Edited by EJ Neumann, A Ramirez, and KJ Schwartz, Iowa State University, College of Veterinary Medicine; https://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdpam/about/production-animal-medicine/swine/swine-disease-manual

2 Studies of the safety and efficacy of Genus's PRP are being reviewed by the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies around the world

3 University of Minnesota, Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program

 

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