Cogny wins Brazil’s first CTNBio license for GMO-made biological inputs, eyes 2027 launch

Brazilian biologicals group Cogny has received the country’s first authorization to use genetically modified microorganisms in industrial production of agricultural inputs. Brazil’s National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) granted Biosafety Quality Certificate No. 714/26 to Bioma, a Cogny company, covering its plant in Fazenda Rio Grande, Paraná. The approval was announced this month.

Until now, only pharmaceutical companies and makers of genetically modified plants had held this kind of Cogny CTNBio-level clearance in Brazil. The model is a production platform, not a live product. Engineered microbes produce specific molecules, and the organisms themselves do not end up in the final input. All work must take place under industrial NB-1 containment in closed bioreactors, followed by heat inactivation or full sterilization.

The certificate covers several organisms, including Pseudomonas putida KT2440, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis and E. coli strains, according to AgriBrasilis. One modified strain is designed to produce isoprenoids and phytohormones. Cogny plans purified molecules, peptides, hormones and pest and disease control compounds, with its first hormone-based product line expected on the Brazilian market in 2027.

Research stays with Orygen Research, Cogny’s R&D center, which already holds NB-2 biosafety clearance to handle modified microbes. Bioma now gains the regulatory backing to scale production and later commercialize the technologies. Cogny operates four microbial production plants, three in Brazil and one in Argentina.

The approval gives Brazil’s fast-growing biologicals sector a route to precision-fermented active ingredients. Regulatory clarity remains the sector’s bottleneck elsewhere: Mosaic launched its first Latin American biological in Paraguay while its larger Brazilian launch still awaits a regulatory decree.

Source: AgriBusiness Global