During 2016 Evolva and Cargill made solid progress on EverSweetTM. The FDA issued a GRAS No Objection Letter for EverSweetTM and Evolva received pivotal patent notifications and grants in both Europe and the US. Current developments suggest that a launch-ready strain will be achieved during 2017.
Under the 2018 launch plan, EverSweetTM will be produced initially at Cargill’s advanced, low cost, manufacturing campus in Blair, Nebraska through retrofitting existing Cargill facilities. Evolva and Cargill are additionally examining an accelerated move to a new facility that may also act as a production hub for other Evolva products, including nootkatone and resveratrol, and those of certain Evolva partners. As a result of the accelerated move, the initial retrofit will be more limited in scale than previously estimated, with significantly lower costs.
This plan is subject to the successful completion by Spring 2017 of ongoing negotiations between Evolva and Cargill. It is expected that third party financing of some activities, notably production capex, will be involved.
