Innovation Case: AXEEV
AXEEV® (active ingredient name: pyroxasulfone) is an isoxazoline-based soil- and foliar-treatment herbicide. It can be used on major crops worldwide such as corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton, and is effective on a wide range of weeds from grasses to small broadleaf weeds. In recent years, the emergence and spread of herbicide-resistant weeds has become a major problem worldwide, and because AXEEV® is highly effective against these weed species, it is widely accepted around the world as an agent to combat such herbicide-resistant weeds.
Since its launch in 2011, the field crop and turf herbicide AXEEV has grown steadily as a specific treatment for weeds resistant to existing products and is a major driving force behind Kumiai Chemical Industry's performance today. As of 2022, it is registered in 17 countries, including Japan, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Korea, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Namibia, and is sold through agrochemical manufacturers worldwide.
With the introduction of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops, research by the world's agrochemical manufacturers into the creation of herbicides has lost momentum, but we have been able to create AXEEV through continued diligent research. In 2016, we received the Society Award (on prominent achievement) from the Pesticide Science Society of Japan for the development of the novel pre-emergence herbicide pyroxasulfone.
