Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN) reported a narrower second-quarter loss as the company continued to restructure around its ChemPass AI platform for small-molecule drug discovery and crop protection, while management also urged shareholders to support the current board in an upcoming contested election.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Evogene recorded a net loss of approximately $1.8 million, compared with a net loss of approximately $4.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. VP Finance Polina Ravzin said the improvement reflected lower operating expenses, a lower loss from discontinued operations and higher net financing income.
Board Calls for Continuity Ahead of Vote
Chairman Nir Nimrodi opened the call by addressing a shareholder group seeking to replace Evogene’s entire board. Nimrodi said the board had engaged with the dissident investors and offered to add representatives selected by the group, but that proposal was rejected.
According to Nimrodi, the shareholder group has not presented a comprehensive strategic alternative, commercial roadmap or operating plan. He argued that replacing the board during the company’s restructuring would risk disrupting progress.
“Changing directors is not a strategy, it’s a disruption,” Nimrodi said.
Management said it plans to add two nominees to the board in September, assuming the current board prevails in the election: Dr. Yael Margolin, described as a pharmaceutical innovation and commercialization expert, and Yoshinori Oyakawa, described as a veteran of international biotechnology.
Nimrodi said Evogene has reduced headcount to 38 employees from 117 and expects 2026 cash usage of between $8.5 million and $9.5 million, compared with approximately $20.5 million in 2024. He also cited approximately $11.1 million in new capital raised and the monetization or transition of several non-core businesses.
ChemPass Collaborations and Pipeline Progress
President and CEO Ofer Haviv said Evogene signed four new drug-development agreements since the start of 2026, bringing its total number of active collaborations to six. Two collaborations have completed the initial “hit identification” stage of the ChemPass AI workflow, with validation results that Haviv said exceeded partners’ expectations.
The company’s internal drug-discovery program has completed the hit-to-lead stage and moved into lead optimization, which Haviv described as the stage for generating proprietary molecules intended to serve as drug candidates for preclinical trials.
Haviv said the company is beginning discussions with pharmaceutical companies in addition to biotechnology companies. He added that, in most current collaboration discussions, Evogene is also discussing research and development fees to fund its work, unlike its earliest agreements in the area.
In agriculture, Evogene is nearing completion of lead optimization for a fungicide program targeting Septoria. The company is testing synthesized molecules in biological assays and expects greenhouse testing to precede field trials. Haviv said the company has not yet initiated field trials for the program.
Evogene also expanded its virtual chemical space from 36 billion molecules to 110 billion molecules, management said. The company’s second agreement with Google Cloud has enabled the integration of AI agents intended to automate complex research tasks. Haviv said such tasks can now be completed in minutes rather than the weeks or months previously required.
Non-Core Assets and Cash Position
Ravzin said Lavie Bio is no longer operational following its transaction with ICL. One additional payment from ICL was received in July 2026, while another is expected in July 2027. Evogene also received approximately $2.9 million from Lavie Bio’s shareholder dividend during the second quarter.
Biomica is no longer conducting ongoing operations after licensing its oncology candidate, BMC128, to Lishan Pharmaceuticals. Evogene received approximately $1.35 million from Biomica’s shareholder dividend during the quarter.
Casterra has substantially reduced operations and is now focused exclusively on Brazil, Ravzin said.
As of June 30, Evogene had approximately $9.3 million in consolidated cash and cash equivalents. Second-quarter consolidated cash usage was approximately $2.1 million. The company raised approximately $800,000 through its at-the-market equity program during the second quarter and another approximately $2.4 million during the third quarter through the time of the call.
Research and development expense was approximately $1.4 million in the second quarter, down from approximately $1.7 million a year earlier. General and administrative expense declined to approximately $900,000 from approximately $1 million, while sales and marketing expense fell to approximately $300,000 from approximately $400,000.
For the first half, Evogene’s net loss was approximately $7.7 million, essentially unchanged from the prior-year period. Ravzin said warrant-related accounting and revaluation effects significantly affected financing results, including both non-cash expenses and income.
About Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN)
Evogene Ltd. is a biotechnology company specializing in the use of computational and predictive biology technologies to design and develop novel products for agriculture and human health. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, the company has built a proprietary computational platform that integrates genomics, machine learning and data analytics to identify gene targets and biological traits. Evogene’s platform serves as the backbone for its research and development efforts, enabling the discovery of enhanced crop traits, microbial solutions and microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutics.
In the agricultural sector, Evogene applies its platform to improve crop performance across a range of parameters, including yield enhancement, stress tolerance and resistance to pests and pathogens.
