Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO), a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure-based instruments, consumables, and platform technology solutions to the worldwide biotechnology, biotherapeutics, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, agriculture, and food & beverage industries, today announced it has signed a letter of intent to purchase the assets of an internationally-based developer and supplier of organically natural, eco-friendly agrochemicals, offering sought after alternatives to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers serving the rapidly growing sectors of organic and environmentally-sustainable agricultural production worldwide.
While global population growth drives increasing demands on food production, the world is confronting a concomitant awakening to the imperatives of environmental sustainability. As demand soars for traditional production-boosting synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, these products are in turn being eclipsed by new generations of eco-friendly agrochemicals. New and old generations of agrochemicals face common challenges in getting oily (hydrophobic) active ingredients to become effectively absorbed, which is required for increased bioavailability within targeted plant species (whose biochemistry is water-based). PBI's Ultra Shear Technology™ ("UST™") nanoemulsification platform, which can make oils effectively soluble in water, is expected to enable more effective agrochemical dosing while reducing the quantities of expensive active ingredients required. Pesticides, used to control insects that damage crops and severely limit production, are projected to grow in worldwide sales from $84.5 billion in 2019 to $131 billion by 2023. Fertilizers, used to replenish soil with essential nutrients required for better crop growth and production, are expected to achieve global sales of approximately $232 billion by 2025. The asset purchase is subject to the negotiation and signing of definitive transaction documents.
Mr. Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO of PBI, commented: "Upon completion, this acquisition of assets will bring into PBI an established portfolio of respected brand names in the eco-friendly agrochemicals market, with unique proprietary formulations, advantageous manufacturer relationships, trademarks, intellectual property, registrations and licenses, and access to distributor and end-customer relationships around the world. We expect these assets to be accretive, driving significant new revenues and profitability in 2021 and beyond."
Mr. Schumacher continued: "Our uniquely-enabling UST nanoemulsions platform offers an opportunity for a major improvement in the economics and effectiveness of agrochemicals. We are looking forward to the opportunity to leverage the UST technology platform within a diverse line of next-generation, eco-friendly agrochemicals that fall into two of the hottest growth segments in agricultural production worldwide: organic foods and environmental sustainability."
PBI's Board Chairman, Mr. Jeffrey N. Peterson provided a broader context: "We previously shared with investors how PBI's UST platform provides a unique but highly effective route for the creation of nanoemulsions with extremely low and consistent droplet sizes. This innovative process offers revolutionary improvements in more effective and economical products with improved sensory profiles, texture, appearance, stability, water solubility, and bioavailability, serving an amazing diversity of large commercial markets, from foods and beverages, to cosmetics, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and now agriculture."
Mr. Peterson continued: "We have announced initial relationships to open up pharmaceutical and hemp-derived product applications, as well as merger/acquisition plans to bring PBI into the cosmetics and personal care products markets. This new acquisition of assets will quickly open and drive our penetration into the agrochemicals sector. This asset acquisition also includes products in the cleaning/disinfection arena and potentially in cosmetics. Finally, this pending asset acquisition offers exciting complementary synergies to our announced plans to acquire Cannaworx, Inc. that are on-going, and we are still actively negotiating that prospective transaction."
About Pressure BioSciences, Inc.
Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) is a leader in the development and sale of innovative, broadly enabling, pressure-based solutions for the worldwide life sciences and other industries. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to control bio-molecular interactions safely and reproducibly (e.g., cell lysis, biomolecule extraction). Our primary focus is in the development of PCT-based products for biomarker and target discovery, drug design and development, biotherapeutics characterization and quality control, soil & plant biology, forensics, and counter-bioterror applications. Additionally, major new market opportunities have emerged in the use of our pressure-based technologies in the following areas: (1) the use of our recently acquired, patented technology from BaroFold, Inc. (the "BaroFold" technology) to allow entry into the bio-pharma contract services sector, and (2) the use of our recently-patented, scalable, high-efficiency, pressure-based Ultra Shear Technology ("UST") platform to (i) create stable nanoemulsions of otherwise immiscible fluids (e.g., oils and water) and to (ii) prepare higher quality, homogenized, extended shelf-life or room temperature stable low-acid liquid foods that cannot be effectively preserved using existing non-thermal technologies.
