Monsanto and Pairwise Announce R&D Collaboration to Accelerate Innovation in Agriculture with Gene Editing
March 20 2018 - 9:15AM
Business Wire
Partners’ Leading Expertise And The Potential Of Base Editing
To Fuel Advancement
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Pairwise Plants (Pairwise), an
agricultural startup, have announced a collaboration to advance
agriculture research and development by leveraging gene-editing
technology. Under the agreement, Pairwise will work in corn,
soybeans, wheat, cotton and canola crops exclusively with Monsanto.
The companies bring unparalleled expertise and complementary
intellectual property (IP) to a strategic alliance expected to
drive new and needed solutions to help farmers produce better
harvests, protect crops from evolving threats, and conserve
resources in the face of mounting environmental challenges.
Under the companies’ collaboration and licensing agreement,
Monsanto would contribute $100 million to access and develop
Pairwise IP in row crop applications, including an option to
commercialize products resulting from the research
collaboration.
“Part of Monsanto’s commitment to delivering new technologies to
farmers is recognizing other innovators we can work with to
accelerate solutions,” said Dr. Robb Fraley, Monsanto chief
technology officer. “We are excited to be collaborating with the
pioneers in gene editing at Pairwise to build on the robust body of
research driven by our in-house team.”
Pairwise is focused on finding new ways to address global food
challenges through a world-class collective of gene-editing and
agriculture thought leaders, along with access to foundational
gene-editing IP. Pairwise has licensed programmable base editing
technology from Harvard University and will be developing new
gene-editing applications that Pairwise and Monsanto will apply in
their research. Pairwise also plans to develop its own new crop
varieties while collaborating with other agriculture and consumer
food companies.
“My co-founders and I believe the technologies we have each been
developing can have a profound impact in plant agriculture and will
speed innovation that is badly needed to feed a growing population
amid challenging conditions created by a changing climate,” said
Pairwise founder J. Keith Joung. “Base editing technology has the
potential to have an enormous impact on the speed and precision
with which plant scientists can improve crops, giving researchers
the ability to make single nucleotide changes at a precise location
in the genome efficiently.”
Pairwise recently closed a $25 million Series A financing co-led
by premier venture capital firm Deerfield Management and Monsanto
Growth Ventures, the venture capital arm of Monsanto, which are
each minority shareholders. The company will be led by Dr. Tom
Adams, incoming chief executive officer, and Dr. Haven Baker, chief
business officer, with founders Drs. David Liu (professor and
researcher at Harvard University and the Broad Institute, and a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator), Feng Zhang (Broad
Institute/MIT) and J. Keith Joung (Massachusetts General
Hospital/Harvard Medical School), each a preeminent expert and
inventor of gene-editing technologies.
“Human health care has long pioneered gene-related treatments,
successfully advancing responses to our most systemic disease
challenges. Pairwise and our partners believe the same is possible
for agriculture,” said Dr. Baker, Pairwise chief business officer.
“Gene editing can play a critical role in addressing global food
challenges through collaboration across companies worldwide.”
For more information on Pairwise, visit
www.pairwiseplants.com.
About Monsanto Company
Monsanto is committed to bringing a broad range of solutions to
help nourish our growing world. We produce seeds for fruits,
vegetables and key crops - such as corn, soybeans, and cotton -
that help farmers have better harvests while using water and other
important resources more efficiently. We work to find sustainable
solutions for soil health, help farmers use data to improve farming
practices and conserve natural resources, and provide crop
protection products to minimize damage from pests and disease.
Through programs and partnerships, we collaborate with farmers,
researchers, nonprofit organizations, universities and others to
help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. To learn more
about Monsanto, our commitments and our more than 20,000 dedicated
employees, please visit Monsanto.com. Follow our business on
Twitter® at twitter.com/MonsantoCo.
About Pairwise
Driven by the belief that food should be healthy, affordable,
convenient and sustainable, Pairwise brings together leaders in
agriculture and technology to harness the transformative potential
of genome editing to address our food system’s needs. We are
working to develop new varieties of crops, and to partner with food
and agriculture companies who seek to put nutritious food on tables
across the globe. From developing novel genome editing tools to
leveraging the natural genetic diversity of plants and creating
robust partnerships and collaborations, we are working to address
the biggest challenges facing the future of food. Join us.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking
Information:Certain statements contained in this release are
“forward-looking statements,” such as statements concerning the
company’s anticipated financial results, current and future product
performance, regulatory approvals, business and financial plans and
other non-historical facts, as well as the pending transaction with
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (“Bayer”). These statements are based on
current expectations and currently available information. However,
since these statements are based on factors that involve risks and
uncertainties, the company’s actual performance and results may
differ materially from those described or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute
to such differences include, among others: risks related to the
pending transaction between the company and Bayer, including the
risk that the regulatory approvals required for the transaction may
not be obtained on the anticipated terms or time frame or at all,
the risk that the other conditions to the completion of the
transaction may not be satisfied, the risk that disruptions or
uncertainties related to the pending transaction could adversely
affect the company’s business, financial performance and/or
relationships with third parties, and the risk that certain
contractual restrictions during the pendency of the transaction
could adversely affect the company’s ability to pursue business
opportunities or strategic transactions; continued competition in
seeds, traits and agricultural chemicals; the company's exposure to
various contingencies, including those related to intellectual
property protection, regulatory compliance and the speed with which
approvals are received, and public understanding and acceptance of
our biotechnology and other agricultural products; the success of
the company's research and development activities; the outcomes of
major lawsuits, including potential litigation related to the
pending transaction with Bayer; developments related to foreign
currencies and economies; fluctuations in commodity prices;
compliance with regulations affecting our manufacturing; the
accuracy of the company's estimates related to distribution
inventory levels; the levels of indebtedness, continued
availability of capital and financing and rating agency actions;
the company's ability to fund its short-term financing needs and to
obtain payment for the products that it sells; the effect of
weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, and security
breaches, including cybersecurity incidents, on the agriculture
business or the company's facilities; and other risks and factors
detailed in the company's most recent periodic report to the SEC.
Undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking
statements, which are current only as of the date of this release.
The company disclaims any current intention or obligation to update
any forward-looking statements or any of the factors that may
affect actual results.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180320005803/en/
Monsanto CompanyMedia:Camille Scott,
314-694-4645orInvestors:Laura Meyer, 314-694-8148orPairwise:Laura
McCarthy, 816-914-2953
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