Sumitomo to register ”Novel” Fungicide

Japanese chemical giant Sumitomo has applied to the EU for registration of a novel fungicide compound it discovered in a development project with Germany’s BASF. The fungicide with the ISO common name metyltetraprole will be sold as Pavecto and could be on the market from 2022.

The development partners said the compound belongs to a group of fungicides known as Quinone outside Inhibitors (QoI) and with the chemical structure tetrazolinone represents “novel chemistry in this group.”  The compound’s importance is that it – unlike existing QoI fungicides – is claimed to control pathogens that have developed resistance to strobilurin fungicides currently on the market.

Together, the two companies said they have demonstrated that Pavecto is a highly effective fungicide for the control of a broad range of diseases, including Septoria leaf blotch in wheat, In addition, the product is expected to play an important role in resistance management, providing growers with an innovative tool to protect their crops and secure yields.

Submissions of the registration dossier are planned globally.  Pending regulatory approval, Sumitomo Chemical and BASF expect Pavecto-based formulations to be launched in the EU starting in 2022.

Kimitoshi Umeda, associate officer in charge of the AgroSolutions Division-International at Sumitomo Chemical, said Pavecto will become an effective solution to control major diseases and help growers improve their productivity and profitability.  

Livio Tedeschi, senior vice president of BASF Crop Protection Europe, added that the product will complement the German group’s fungicide portfolio and give growers “much needed new tools via several high-performing formulations complemented by existing active ingredients and compounds from our pipeline.”