Biotech Co.* (Symbol) | Agbiotech Partner (Country/Symbol) | Type/Product Area | Disclosed Funding (M) | Terms/Details (Date) |
Affymax Technologies NV (subsidiary of Glaxo Wellcome plc [UK; NYSE:GLX]) | DuPont Crop Protection (unit of DuPont [NYSE:DD]) | Research and development collaboration/access to Affymax chemical libraries for testing against crop protection targets | ND | Affymax will receive fees for compound access and testing, plus milestones and royalties on any products that emerge (2/00) |
AgrBioTech Inc. | Research Seeds Inc. | Sale of assets/all assets of AgriBioTech's forage business unit | $16 | Research Seeds agreed to pay $16M in cash, subject to various pre-closing conditions (6/00) |
AgriBioTech Inc. | Kenneth R. Budd (former COO and president of AgriBioTech) and J.R. Simplot Co. | Sale of assets/turfgrass seed assets and specialty division | $65 | Sale is subject to various closing condition (5/00) |
Agrinomics LLC (50% owned subsidiary of Agritope Inc. [AGTO]) and Aventis CropScience (unit of Aventis SA [France; NYSE:AVE]) | Vilmorin Clause & Cie (France) and Biotech M.A.H. Plant Genomic Fund (Israel) | Research collaboration/discovery of genes that confer desirable traits in vegetables | $7.5 | A Vilmorin/Biotech M.A.H. joint venture will sponsor the $7.5M research program; Agrinomics received $1.5M up front to fund the first year of research (2/00) |
Aleurone Corp.* | Monsanto Co. (unit of Pharmacia Corp. [NYSE: PHA]) | License/Aleurone's genetic engineering technology for cereal plants expressing foreign proteins in seed storage areas | ND | Aleuron will receive up-front payment and royalties on sales (1/00) |
AMBI Inc. (AMBI) | ImmuCell Corp. (ICCC) | License/rights to AMBI's Wipe Out product, consisting of pre-moistened towelettes impregnated with nisin to clean, santize and dry the teat area of a cow prior to milking | $0.36 | ImmuCell paid $0.36M to acquire equipment, trademarks and a license; ImmuCell also agreed to manufacture and supply nisin to AMBI as needed (1/00) |
AMBI Inc. (AMBI) | ImmuCell Corp. (ICCC) | License/rights to develop and market new antibacterial drugs for animals using nisin and lysostaphin technologies | ND | AMBI received an up-front payment and will receive milestones and royalties on any sales (4/00) |
Atrix Laboratories Inc. (ATRX) | Pharmacia Corp. (NYSE:PHA) | Marketing/periodontal therapy for companion animals | ND | Pharmacia's animal health unit will market periodontal gel containing doxycycline for use in companion animals; Heska Corp. was formerly marketing partner for the product; Atrix will continue manufacturing the gel (4/00) |
AviGenics Inc.* | Demegen Inc. (OTC BB:DBOT) | Research and development collaboration/development of chickens resistant to coccidiosis and other avian enteric diseases such as Salmonella and Campylobacter infections | ND | ND (1/00) |
BioFocus plc (UK) | Aventis CropScience (unit of Aventis SA [France; NYSE:AVE]) | Research collaboration/BioFocus will design and supply compounds for agricultural applications | ND | BioFocus gains access to new facility; further details ND (3/00) |
Bioject Medical Technologies (BJCT) | Animal Medical Center of New York | Provider agreement/use of Bioject's needle-free injectable DNA-based melanoma vaccine in animals | ND | Animal Medical will be the exclusive provider of the product for use in animals (4/00) |
Celera AgGen (unit of Celera Genomics [NYSE:CRA]) | ViaLactia Biosciences New Zealand Ltd. | Research collaboration/Celera will seek to discover new bovine genes important for increasing dairy productivity | ND | All intellectual property will be jointly owned (4/00) |
CRS Robotics Corp. (Canada; TSE:ROB) | Monsanto Co. (unit of Pharmacia Corp.; [NYSE: PHA]) | Supply agreement/CRS will design and provide automated lab systems for high-throughput genotyping | $1.2 | Immediate order, with a value of $1.2M, covers first two systems (5/00) |
Devgen NV* (Belgium) | FMC Corp. (NYSE:FMC) | Expansion of research collaboration/Devgen is discovering targets of existing insecticides and will use the information to make insecticides more target-specific; a second part of the program involves putting candidate targets into C. elegans and using them to screen for novel insecticides | $15 | Expansion of 11/99 deal following faster-than-expected progress; Devgen will receive $15M in committed research and development fees over three years, plus milestones and royalties (4/00) |
Diversa Corp. (DVSA) | Aventis Animal Nutrition SA (unit of Aventis SA [France; NYSE:AVE]) | Extension of research collaboration/development of a biocatalytic process to manufacture an Aventis product for animal nutrition | ND | Based on progress to date, companies extended initial six-month agreement, resulting in additional research funding to Diversa (4/00) |
Enchira Biotechnology Corp. (formerly Energy Biosystems; ENBC) | Genencor International Inc.* | License/Enchira's gene-shuffling technology for development of gene-based products for various industries, including grain processing, animal feed and food ingredients | ND | Licensing agreement is the first of what is expected to be several deals between the companies(5/00) |
EnviroLogix Inc.* | Aventis CropScience (unit of Avents SA [France; NYSE: AVE]) | License/tests for genetically modified organisms | ND | EnviroLogix will have access to Aventis' BAR and PAT herbicide-resistance proteins and to Cry9C (a Bt protein); further details ND (3/00) |
Exelixis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EXEL) | Bayer AG (Germany) | Joint venture/discovery of insecticides and nematicides based on targets discovered by Exelixis using model system genomics | $100 | Companies formed GenOptera LLC under terms of expansion of 6/99 agreement; Exelixis will receive up-front and license payments of $20M, plus milestones and potential royalties; expanded agreement calls for at least $80M in additional research support; Bayer has exclusive marketing rights (1/00) |
Lion Bioscience AG* (Germany) | Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM) | Bioinformatics/development of informatics tools for metabolic profiling that predict the changes of biochemical pathways in plants and fungi; companies will develop phenotypic analysis tools | ND | Project will broaden Lion's i-biology platform to the field of agriculture and will benefit Paradigm's AgDB system (1/00) |
Methexis Genomics NV* (Belgium) | Sequenom Inc. (SQNM) | Research and development collaboration/use of companies' combined technologies to discover and assess genetic variations in targeted regions of human and plant genomes | ND | Companies are collaborating to create and sell products using their combined technologies and may integrate Methexis' technology for discovering single nucleotide polymorphisms with agricultural applications into Sequenom's MassARRAY system (3/00) |
Lynx Therapeutics Inc. (LYNX) | Aventis CropScience (unit of Aventis SA [France; NYSE:AVE]) | Renewal of technology access agreement/Lynx's genomics discovery services for developing new crop varieties and other agricultural products, and for genomic mapping of certain plants and discovery of trait-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms | ND | One-year renewal of 3/99 agreement providing non-exclusive access (3/00) |
Neogen Corp. (NEOG) | Agdia Inc.* | Development collaboration/tests to determine if grains, oilseeds and vegetables are genetically modified | ND | Companies established a joint venture to develop testing products (6/00) |
Novalon Pharmaceutical Corp. (now a unit of Actelion [Switzerland]) | Novartis Research Foundation (unit of Novartis AG [Switzerland; NYSE:NVS]) | Research collaboration/use of Novalon's BioKey assays for genomic targets in the agricultural field | ND | Novalon will provide BioKey assays for Novartis targets in return for up-front and research and development funding; technology access is non-exclusive (1/00) |
Neurogen Corp. (NRGN) | Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) | License/development of Neurogen's drug candidates to treat obesity in companion animals; goal is to develop pills that will block neuropeptide Y neurotransmitters (NPY 1 and NPY 5) | ND | New deal is the sixth between the companies in eight years; it expands the scope of 1995 agreement for NPY antagonists to treat obesity in humans; Neurogen will receive milestones milestones and royalties (6/00) |
Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM) | Monsanto Co. (unit of Pharmacia Corp.; NYSE: PHA) | Research collaboration/Paradigm will develop functional genomics data by analyzing the product of Monsanto's gene sequencing, bioinfomatics and functional genomics research, creating a product discovery platform for commercialization | $55 | Paradigm will receive $55M in committed payments; additional financial terms ND (1/00) |
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Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM) | Renessen LLC (joint venture of Monsanto Co. [unit of Pharmacia Corp.; NYSE: PHA] and Cargill Inc.) | Expansion of research collaboration/application of functional genomics and bioinformatics expertise to the task of increasing yields of valuable grain components | ND | Paradigm and Monsanto expanded 11/99 agreement to include Renessen (5/00) |
Proteome Systems Ltd.* (Australia) | Dow AgroSciences LLC (subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co. [NYSE:DOW]) | Research collaboration/use of Proteome's technology to characterize Dow proteins, map diversity of protein families and develop tools to elucidate novel biosynthetic pathways in plants; Proteome will also build several new proteomic databases for the program | ND | Extension and expansion of multi-year agreement initiated 2/99 following achievement of several milestones in the first year of the collaboration (3/00) |
SemBioSys Genetics* (Canada) | Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute (unit of Novartis AG [Switzerland; NYSE:NVS) | Development collaboration/development of a product addressing nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical markets using SemBioSys' oleosin technology (based on genetically engineering oilseeds to produce value-added proteins) | ND | Novartis will fund development; SemBioSys will supply the product to Novartis, which will have exclusive rights (1/00) |
Strategic Diagnostics Inc. (SDIX) | Novartis Seeds (unit of Novarts AG [Switzerland; NYSE:NVS]) | Research and development/genetic tests for quality control in foundation seeds and crop breeding | ND | Strategic Diagnostics will distribute the tests (6/00) |
Symyx Technologies Inc. (SMMX) | Celanese AG (Germany; NYSE:CZ) | Extension of research collaboration/discovery of new catalysts to convert basic feed stocks into higher value-added commodity chemicals | $5 | Celanese will have exclusive rights to use catalysts discovered by Symyx in the defined field; Symyx will receive over $5M in research funding during the one-year extension (through 2/02) plus royalties on the sale of chemicals produced by the catalysts (5/15) |
Trega Biosciences Inc. (TRGA) | DuPont Crop Protection (unit of DuPont [NYSE: DD]) | Compound library access/Trega will supply small-molecule chemistry libraries through its Chem.Folio program | ND | Trega will receive an up-front payment and potential milestones and royalties; agreement includes possibility of further collaboration in the future (1/00) |
Univera Pharmaceuticals Inc.* | Unigen Ltd. (Korea) | License and research collaboration/transfer of Univera's PhytoLogix and PhytoGenEx technologies to Unigen and the sharing of future technical improvements | $1 | Univera received a $1M license fee and will receive royalties on future improvements; as part of the agreement, the companies will collaborate on plant screening (5/00) |
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Notes: |
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This chart contains information on new corporate agreements in agricultural biotechnology covering the time between 1/1/00 and 6/30/00. |
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AMEX = American Stock Exchange; LSE = London Stock Exchange; NYSE = New York Stock Exchange; NM = Nouveau Marche; OTC BB = Over The Counter Bulletin Board |
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ND = Not disclosed, reported and/or available |
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* Private companies are indicated with an asterisk. |
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