Today, Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC announced a non-exclusive global option and licensing agreement on Dow AgroSciences’ EXZACT Precision Technology Platform for research and commercial development of new crop solutions across Monsanto Company’s research portfolio.
EXZACT technology, which Dow AgroSciences has developed under an exclusive license and collaboration agreement in plants with Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., facilitates the creation of crop varieties and lines having improved traits.
“Monsanto is pleased to pursue applications of this genome-editing technology for the development of new plant discoveries and solutions for farmers,” says Tom Adams, biotechnology lead for Monsanto. “Zinc finger nucleases are a well-established technology for gene editing and this license, together with our existing and other licensed technology, will allow us to pursue product development while further enabling our growing body of research in this emerging field.”
Both companies noted that genome-editing technology and the broad array of emerging genome-editing techniques, including the zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology in EXZACT, represent key scientific applications that can deliver breakthroughs in agriculture.
“EXZACT technology is helping to deliver next generation crop improvements into the hands of farmers,” says Daniel Kittle, Dow AgroSciences vice president, research and development. “Broad adoption of EXZACT by industry partners, such as Monsanto, expands access to solutions that will improve grower productivity and profitability.”
Monsanto believes that genome-editing technologies will enable plant breeders to deliver better hybrids and varieties more efficiently, as well as offer plant scientists additional resources to provide new improvements in plant biotechnology.
Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
