Bayer Inks Deal With Scivax
3 November 2009 Bayer CropScience and the biotech company Scivax Corp. of Kawasaki, Japan, have entered into a cooperation on yield enhancement under abiotic stress conditions in plants, initially in cotton. Under the terms of this agreement, Bayer CropScience will sponsor and support Scivax’s R&D activities in these traits for the next three years. In turn, Scivax grants Bayer CropScience an option to obtain a worldwide, exclusive license to their patent portfolio for use in crops. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Scivax has been developing technologies for enhanced yield since 2005 under collaboration with Professor Teruhiro Takabe of Meijo University and Professor Tetsuko Takabe of Nagoya University. The company has demonstrated the value of their technology under abiotic stress conditions in greenhouse trials with a variety of crops. Scivax and Bayer will now join forces to further optimize the technology.
Dr. Linda Trolinder, Global Cotton R&D Manager at BioScience, a business operations unit of Bayer CropScience, welcomes this business relationship with Scivax. “At Bayer CropScience, we strive to be the global innovation leader in cotton and are investing significantly in the development of valuable new solutions for farmers to help them be more productive and profitable,” she said in a press release. “We anticipate that Scivax’ innovative technology will contribute to further strengthening our competitive position in the global cotton market, especially with regard to ensuring higher yields in difficult climatic conditions.”
In other biotech news for Bayer, the company completed its acquisition Athenix Corp, a private biotech company based in the US. The company was purchased for US $365 million, with an additional $35 million in possible development bonuses.
Athenix has the larges collection of Bt genes in the industry, according to Bayer, and the company is working on nematode resistance as well.
Bayer is currently pursuing 56 bioscience research projects involving six crops.
Get The Newsletter Today!
