As we celebrate a decade of honouring biocontrol innovations, we spoke to Vestaron, the first winner of the Bernard Blum Award for their product SPEAR® LEP, about what has happened over the last decade and the benefits of being an IBMA Member.

Spoiler alert – While SPEAR LEP is already available in the US, Canada and Mexico, it is still in the EU’s authorization process. Until that lengthy process is completed growers in Europe won’t have access to it except under very limited Emergency Use Authorisations (EUAs).      

In 2015, Vestaron won the first Bernard Blum award for SPEAR® LEP, a peptide-based insecticide. This award is given to innovative products contributing to sustainable agriculture. Using biocontrol products derived from naturally occurring peptides to target agronomic pests was a new idea for biocontrol then.  Can you remind us of some of the differentiating attributes of SPEAR LEP? 

Vestaron’s suite of novel peptide-based products delivers the same efficacy as traditional synthetic pesticides but carries the safety profile and environmental friendliness of biologicals. SPEAR LEP, the first active ingredient from our peptide technology platform, offers a unique mode of action (IRAC group 32) with no known resistance or cross-resistance with synthetic pesticides. It shows excellent efficacy against many commercially relevant lepidopteran insect pests of high value vegetable and fruit crops in open field and greenhouse applications. Growers are using it to curtail the development of insect resistance to existing insecticides and are finding it highly compatible and supportive of all forms of IPM. For example, they can use SPEAR LEP when bees and other beneficial insects are active in their fields and greenhouses. Additionally, its biological safety profile presents minimal risk to people, pollinators, and beneficials, as determined by USA EPA and Canadian PMRA regulatory approvals.

Can you tell us what has happened with SPEAR LEP in the last 10 years?

Vestaron received full regulatory approval for SPEAR LEP in the United States in 2018 and launched the product commercially in 2020. Since then, the product has also been launched in Canada and Mexico. We filed a regulatory submission in the EU in 2022 and are hopeful for regulatory approval in 2027.  Although we know there is a strong need, as well as a strong desire, to get new biopesticides to European growers, we also recognize that these truly unique innovations bring new challenges to the regulators who assess the safety of crop protection products. To help support this process in the EU, Vestaron’s strategy is twofold: engage with policymakers in Europe to find a faster, more appropriate way to test and grant permanent approval for the use of peptide-based biopesticides, while supporting EU growers who seek to secure emergency use authorizations for our products in situations where the existing options are insufficient to meet their needs. In 2024, we received Emergency Use Authorisations in Italy, Greece and Cyprus and have once again secured these approvals in 2025.

Why do growers want to use SPEAR LEP and how is the current EU approval process affecting them?

Growers are eager to incorporate new modes of action into their IPM programs. We priced SPEAR LEP at parity with conventional synthetic chemistries. In addition, SPEAR LEP has no special handling or storage requirements.  Growers have seen effective insect control and also benefit from operational and marketing advantages such as a 4-hour restricted entry interval (REI), 0-day post-harvest interval (PHI), and a maximum residue limit (MRL) exemption. In 2024, we surpassed 900,000 acres (360,000 hectares) of commercial sprays, achieving a 10% market share in the pistachio market, 4% in almonds, and 3% in brassicas.

Meanwhile, growers in Europe are losing out on the full potential of this innovation because under Emergency Use Authorizations, we are restricted to selling SPEAR LEP for a single crop (tomatoes) targeting one insect pest (Tuta absoluta) for a limited period (120 days) at a time. Italy, Greece, and Cyprus have granted these authorisations. Growers in these countries are enthusiastic about accessing SPEAR LEP and have reported positive results from its use. You can hear more from a Greek grower here.

Do you have plans to introduce SPEAR LEP further in the EU?

We believe SPEAR LEP is a valuable, sustainable crop protection tool for all of the EU.  We applied for EU regulatory approval in 2022, but the regulatory process is slow, complex, and not fit for peptide-based and other biocontrol innovations. This delays critical tools for growers and creates significant financial and operational hurdles for small innovators like us. We’ve prioritized markets with the most urgent insect control needs.  While the emergency use approvals in 2024 and 2025 are steps forward, they cover only a fraction of Europe’s crop protection needs. The delays in assessing and approving new biocontrol products are unsustainable for a company of our size and fail to meet the broader needs of European farmers.

Why is it taking so long to get approvals for this technology in the EU?

In the European Union, the delay in approving advanced biopesticide technologies like peptides stems from several regulatory and structural challenges. Despite growing recognition of the role biopesticides can play in sustainable agriculture, EU regulations lack clear definitions and dedicated risk assessment resources and processes for these innovative solutions. These weaknesses delay the timely evaluation and approval of biopesticides, contrasting sharply with more established regulatory frameworks in other regions.  Without comprehensive reforms to redefine and expedite the approval processes specifically tailored to biological controls, European farmers are constrained from accessing these promising tools that offer both efficacy and environmental benefits.

In closing can you tell us the benefits of being an IBMA Member?
Although Vestaron has good connections with regulators and policymakers in Brussels and across the EU member states, the biocontrol sector needs to align its messages and policy requests to officials and to other stakeholders. Membership in IBMA joins us with others in the sector, amplifying our voices while remaining within the important constraints of EU competition law. In IBMA, we come together to work with the EU institutions and stakeholders to deliver on the full potential of all biocontrol solutions that meet our companies’ potentials while fulfilling the needs of European farmers and consumers.

To learn more about IBMA visit their website: https://ibma-global.org/

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Steve Betz, VP Communications • (515).707.6096 • sbetz@vestaron.com