These companies may not possess the glamour of a Hollywood opening, but the smaller-cap among Canada’s scientific community.
Mississauga, Ontario-based Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (TSX-Venture: BEE) told investors Thursday the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a patent for BVT's Clonostachys rosea CR-7 microbial strain (CR-7), and there has been no opposition filed in the nine-month post-grant window which has now closed.
This patent claims the usefulness of CR-7 as a plant treatment, thus protecting a critical component of BVT's proprietary natural precision agriculture system, and has been further validated in 14 European countries, including Germany, France and the U.K.
CEO Ashish Malik says, "We now have strong patent protection in the world's largest market for fungicides, with Europe accounting for 36% of the overall global fungicides market. Europe is a major opportunity for BVT, as growers there are rapidly adopting sustainable practices to reduce chemical use and environmental impacts. BVT's system is a powerful tool to help them accomplish that."
BEE shares perked 5.5 cents, or 15.3%, to 41.5 cents, on volume of 509,000 shares.
