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Biosecurity Development Pipeline

The pipeline holds two programs that are not yet for sale: a tick control product and a crawling insect concentrate for ants and cockroaches. Both use encapsulated geraniol, and both are gated by trial data, a label and state acceptance, in that order.

Tick Control

Geraniol has strong published repellency data against ticks and measurable toxicity, but at concentrations 10 to 20 times the Spider Mite Control crop rate. Unencapsulated essential oils also lose activity against ticks within a few days. The program asks two questions: what concentration gives reliable kill across life stages, and does encapsulation extend field residual. The planned trial runs a USDA-ARS larval packet test on the formulation, adds an Ixodes scapularis nymph arm, and compares encapsulated and neat residual at days 1, 7, 14 and 28.

Crawling Insect Concentrate

Our field experience is that Spider Mite Control at higher concentrations controls ants and cockroaches, and geraniol is already the active in minimum-risk products labeled for both. The concentrate program formalizes that into a product with its own rates, target sites (perimeters, cracks and crevices, animal housing) and residual data. It needs controlled trials, a label with those sites and rates, and state acceptance before sale. Target sites include animal housing, where synthetic residuals are often restricted.

How programs move to market

Each program follows the same gate sequence: laboratory bioassay against the target, residual trials on real surfaces, a label drafted within minimum-risk rules or through full registration if the claim requires it, then state-by-state acceptance. We publish status at each gate. Research institutions, pest management firms and farms can join trials; distributors can register interest for launch territories. Timelines depend on trial results and state review, and we do not publish launch dates before the label is accepted.

Key facts

  • Published geraniol larval LC50 against susceptible Rhipicephalus microplus is about 6.6 mg/mL, more than 10 times the 0.57 mg/mL delivered by Spider Mite Control at 1:500 (Singh et al. 2018, Ticks Tick Borne Dis 9:201)
  • Lignin-encapsulated nootkatone gave 100% control of blacklegged tick nymphs for 8 weeks in a 2009 residential trial, while an emulsifiable formulation fell to 0% by week 3 (Bharadwaj et al. 2012, J Med Entomol 49:1035)
  • Minimum-risk products may not claim control of pests in connection with specific human diseases (40 CFR 152.25(f)(3))

How our delivery technology applies

Both programs test the same hypothesis: that multi-layer encapsulation extends the residual of a volatile terpene alcohol on treated surfaces. The nootkatone precedent shows encapsulation can turn a days-long residual into weeks. Our trials are designed to measure whether the same holds for geraniol, with neat and encapsulated arms side by side.

Join a pipeline trial or register distributor interest for launch territories.

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