DAVIS, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON), a leader in the engineering and industrialization of biology to improve the quality of life and health of the planet, today announced a strategic licensing agreement with Surterra Wellness (Surterra), one of the fastest growing health and wellness companies in the United States (US), to utilize Intrexon's Botticelli^™ next generation plant propagation platform for the production of Surterra's specific cannabis cultivars for the Florida market. The collaboration agreement includes two-stages: 1) an optimization phase in which Intrexon will calibrate its Botticelli™ technology to Surterra's cannabis cultivars; and 2) a production phase in which Surterra will utilize the technology to generate cannabis plantlets for its products, predicted to increase Surterra's production capabilities.

"Surterra Wellness' aim to improve consumer access to high-quality, trusted global cannabis brands to improve their health and wellness is complementary to Intrexon's focus on developing biology solutions that improve the quality of life and health of the planet," said William "Beau" Wrigley, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Surterra Wellness. "Applying the Botticelli-platform approach to our current plantlet production will improve our (cultivation) efficiency and consistency and will help ensure superior product integrity and higher yields in our facilities."  

Legal cannabis revenue is expected to exceed $23 billion by 2022 in the US, with the Florida share of that market projected to grow significantly. Currently, the most common method of cannabis cultivation is through cloning, which is labor intensive, costly, and challenging due to the risk of disease susceptibility. Intrexon's Botticelli^™ platform is an advanced tissue culture technology designed to facilitate efficient propagation of plants while maintaining genetic purity and product performance. When compared to conventional cloning processes, Intrexon's Botticelli^™ platform offers the potential to improve scalability and cost efficiency of production, as well as enable consistency of cannabis products.

"Surterra Wellness is among the top US providers of medical and wellness cannabis products, and we look forward to working with their experienced leadership team to employ our Botticelli^™ platform and to advance Surterra's cannabis cultivation in Florida," said Sekhar Boddupalli, PhD, President of Intrexon's Ag Biotech Division. "This collaboration with Surterra expands our customer base in the US, because Surterra is one of the largest players in the cannabis space.  Surterra's footprint in the US includes the growth, cultivation and retail sales of its brands in Florida, Texas, Nevada and in short time in Massachusetts and California. The Company's expertise and best practices provide a distinct advantage as we optimize Botticelli™ for its application to cannabis."

Under the terms of the agreement, Intrexon will be entitled to royalties on Surterra's Botticelli-derived plantlet usage. Surterra will deploy the Botticelli^™ platform within its Florida cultivation facility to serve its operations in that state and will be responsible for maintaining appropriate licensure at the facility.

About Botticelli™
The Botticelli™ platform is a next generation tissue culture technology that replaces cloning and improves downstream processes & products.  It is designed to facilitate high-volume propagation of numerous strains of plants with genetic purity.  The proprietary ability to rapidly multiply plant lines offers significant advantages to conventional methods including tighter control of inventory management and downstream processes and elimination of potential disease risk with clones using sterile plants. In conjunction with genome editing tools, the Botticelli™ platform also has potential to enable speed to market by rapidly generating and advancing elite lines with desired traits.

About Intrexon Corporation
Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON) is Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA^™ to create biologically-based products that improve the quality of life and the health of the planet.  Intrexon's integrated technology suite provides its partners across diverse markets with industrial-scale design and development of complex biological systems delivering unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living cells.  We call our synthetic biology approach Better DNA^®, and we invite you to discover more at www.dna.com or follow us on Twitter at @Intrexon, on Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About Surterra Wellness 
Founded in 2014, Surterra Wellness is one of the fastest growing health and wellness companies.  With operations in Florida, Texas and Nevada, Surterra brings a broad portfolio of high-quality brands to meet the needs of individuals who choose the natural medical relief, wellness enhancing or lifestyle enjoyment benefits of cannabis products. Surterra offers a wide variety of medical, health and wellness products in multiple delivery options, including vaporizer pens, tinctures, oral sprays, topical creams, time released transdermal patches, and soon-to-be-launched softgels.  Related link: www.surterra.com

Trademarks
Intrexon, Botticelli, Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA, and Better DNA are trademarks of Intrexon and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement
Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our business.  Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.

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SOURCE Intrexon Corporation