Commercialization execution advances in Rice and Sustainable Ingredients
United States and European Union now aligned on generally treating crops with no added foreign DNA as conventionally bred
Quarterly net cash usage declined 19% sequentially and 31% year over year
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the "Company"), a technology company that uses biology to produce sustainable ingredients and helps farmers grow more food with fewer inputs, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, and provided a business update. Management will host a conference call and webcast today at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Management Commentary
Craig Wichner, Chief Executive Officer of Cibus, commented, "Cibus has spent 25 years building a scalable technology platform, protected by more than 500 patents and patent applications spanning which genes to edit, how to edit them, and the traits that result. The platform lets us develop several traits at once in a partner's own crop variety, and return the improved seeds to them in a fraction of the time conventional breeding takes. The regulatory environment is moving in our favor, most recently in Europe, where crops improved with precise edits to the plant's own genes, with no foreign DNA added, can in many cases be treated on the same basis as conventionally bred crops."
Mr. Wichner added, "After following Cibus for 10 years, I joined the board nine months ago. Over the past two months as Chief Executive Officer I have had the privilege of working closely with our teams, and what I found is traits and programs built up over 25 years, across many crops, with significant value. My job is to convert that into revenue, and our resources are prioritized toward the programs closest to it."
Mr. Wichner continued, "My primary focus as CEO will be converting our platforms into value for shareholders through disciplined commercial execution. We start as a platform partner, as our Sustainable Ingredients program shows today. We become the royalty partner as our traits reach acres, such as those we have developed in Rice, Canola and Alfalfa. And over time, with the right partners, our vision is to become a mission-critical part of their innovation pipeline. The first two open the door and fund the path to those larger relationships we aim to create."
Second Quarter and Recent Business Update
The following summarizes Cibus' commercial, regulatory, and corporate progress during the second quarter and through the date of this release.
Priority Pipeline Traits and Programs
-- Weed Management (HT1 and HT3) in Rice
-- During the quarter, Cibus advanced development on both of its Rice
herbicide tolerance traits. This included field trials of an
improved first-generation trait, and work to identify the specific
genetic changes responsible for herbicide tolerance and for
fertility in that trait.
-- Testing of the traits transferred into customer Interoc's Rice
seeds in May 2026 is underway, which if successful would support
an initial launch of Interoc's enhanced seed products in Latin
America.
-- Work with Interoc toward a full commercial agreement continues. In
August 2026, the Company and Interoc amended their letter of
intent to expand the contemplated scope of the relationship from
two Rice traits to five, providing for the development of three
additional traits and their potential commercialization. This
multi-trait pipeline is made possible by the speed and quality of
our technology, and is the model Cibus intends to build with seed
company partners.
-- Cibus has seven Rice seed-company customers across Latin America
and the United States. Latin America is the primary near-term
thrust and represents the bulk of the roughly $200 million annual
addressable royalty opportunity across a combined estimated 5-7
million peak addressable acres.
-- Advancing discussions with additional Rice seed companies in
several Latin American countries, including Brazil and Argentina,
and continuing discussions with several large participants in the
Indian Rice market.
-- Updated initial commercial launch targets in LATAM, 2028 target
launch with customer Fedearroz is on track and customer Interoc is
strategically focusing on hybrid varieties with the potential for
a limited launch in 2028 as well.
-- In the United States, the launch is paired with Albaugh's
herbicide-registration timeline, and current planning targets a
2029 launch.
-- Sustainable Ingredients Program (Partially partner-funded)
-- Generating revenue and continuing a commercial ramp-up phase with
the Company's consumer-products partner, following the Company's
first pre-commercial scale-up payment from the customer in the
fourth quarter of 2025.
-- Targeting additional scale-up orders of other initial
biofragrances in the second half of 2026, with additional
fragrance sustainable ingredients in development on the same
engineered yeast and the same process.
-- When fully commercialized, the Company believes its biofragrance
partnerships could represent up to a $20 to $40 million peak
annual revenue opportunity to Cibus.
-- The initial biofragrances are grown with engineered yeast and
extracted after fermentation, rather than pumped from petroleum or
harvested at scale from plants.
-- Continuing to advance a lauric oils program in soybean, funded by
a consumer packaged goods partner.
Global Regulatory Development
Select Jurisdictions Status Significance for Cibus
---------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
United States Regulated as Clear regulatory path to
conventional breeding; commercialize; supports
USDA-APHIS has targeted 2029 U.S. Rice
determined that Cibus launch
traits are not
"regulated articles"
subject to its
biotechnology
regulations
---------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
United States (FDA) Completed review of the An independent clearance
Company's altered-lignin from a second U.S.
Alfalfa trait and issued agency; supports the
a letter stating it has Company's partner-funded
no further questions Alfalfa program
---------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
European Union In June 2026, following Recognition by one of
conclusion of trilogue the world's most
negotiations in December stringent markets;
2025, the European Union supports
approved legislation disease-resistance and
generally treating crops pod-shatter programs
improved through precise
genomic edits with
genetic changes
comparable to those
achievable through
conventional breeding
(no foreign DNA added)
on the same basis as
conventionally bred
crops; herbicide
tolerant plants and
plants engineered to
produce insecticidal
substances are excluded
from this regulatory
treatment.
---------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
Ecuador and Peru Ecuador confirmed HT1 Supports LATAM Rice
and HT3 Rice traits launch targets
equivalent to
conventional breeding
and subject to the same
regulations as
conventional seed; Peru
established guidelines
for a case-by-case
technical framework in
which gene-edited
products lacking foreign
DNA are scientifically
evaluated for possible
exclusion from its
Modified Living Organism
$(MVO)$ classification,
and products excluded
from that classification
fall outside the
country's GMO
moratorium.
---------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
England Precision Bred Organisms Enables field
framework in place advancement of Canola /
Oilseed Rape programs
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