Indiana Ag Connection - Dow AgroSciences, Agrisoma Biosciences Reach Agreement on Crop Licenses

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Dow AgroSciences, Agrisoma Biosciences Reach Agreement on Crop Licenses
Indiana Ag Connection - 12/03/2009

Dow AgroSciences LLC, Indianapolis, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, and Agrisoma Biosciences, Inc., North Vancouver, Bristish Columbia, announced the signing of a research and commercial license option agreement. The agreement provides Dow AgroSciences with access to Agrisoma's proprietary Engineered Trait Loci (ETL) technology on an exclusive basis in major food crops, and on a non-exclusive basis, in other crop species.

Dow AgroSciences and Agrisoma have collaborated since 2004 in the area of high value protein production in plants and plant cell cultures. The initial collaboration formed the foundation of a successful relationship. This new agreement builds on that relationship and expands use of the ETL technology into field crops.

"Dow AgroSciences' strategic investment in Agrisoma's ETL technology will accelerate the creation of new and novel products in crop plants, such as increased levels and improved forms of healthier oils or other beneficial food components," said Dan Kittle, Ph.D., Dow AgroSciences vice president for R&D. "ETL technology will be an important tool in our 'toolbox' to deliver differentiated solutions enabled by the expression of multiple genes or enhancements in complex biochemical pathways."

Agrisoma's ETL technology is a patent protected, broadly applicable technology that facilitates the placement of new traits in the native genome of a crop. The ETL technology has been used to engineer oil composition, oil content and yield for the renewable energy market and ETL-engineered crops are now undergoing a second year of field trials at multiple locations.

"We recognize Dow AgroSciences as a premiere global leader in plant biotechnology and are tremendously excited about the opportunity to expand our collaboration with Dow AgroSciences," said Steven Fabijanski, Agrisoma's president and chief executive officer. "Agrisoma has demonstrated the utility, stability and performance our ETL technology in a broad range of crops, including important food crops such as soybeans and canola. Our ETL technology has proven performance, and through this new collaboration with Dow AgroSciences, we hope to be able to commercialize this technology in major global food crops. The research collaboration with Dow AgroSciences complements our industrial crop program which is focused on creating renewable feedstocks using dedicated bioenergy plants."