合成生物学领域的领导者 Intrexon Corporation 宣布成立全资子公司 Intrexon Crop Protection (ICP)，致力于农业病虫害的生物防治，包括昆虫和真菌。
Through the utilization of two proprietary technologies within Intrexon’s platform, ICP’s approach will precisely target single pest species avoiding the off-target effects of conventional pesticide applications on the broader ecosystem.
Intrexon 表示，它打算 ICP 成为一家独立的上市公司。
Randal J. Kirk, Intrexon’s Chairman and CEO stated, “Considering the robustness of our engineered biological crop protection solutions pipeline, the interest received in each of our two contributing platforms, the scarcity of other workable new technologies, the ongoing consolidation of the mature companies in the sector, the increasing reliance by food growers on a decreasingly effective set of marketed solutions, the enormous size of the available markets for better crop protection solutions and the efficiencies that we believe will be realized by marshalling development of the resultant products under one enterprise management team, I am pleased to announce this milestone event in our company’s history.”
“The newly formed Intrexon Crop Protection subsidiary will utilize Intrexon’s platforms to help protect growers’ crops through biological control of agricultural pests, highlighted by a fully differentiated self-limiting insect platform and a proprietary approach for the expression of nucleic acids and peptides,” said Corey Huck, SVP and Head of Intrexon’s Food Sector. “The protection of harvests is critical given population growth and the declining efficiency of traditional practices.”
每年有多达 16% 的全球作物产量因农业病虫害而损失，行业报告估计到 2019 年杀虫剂和杀菌剂市场将达到 $400 亿。转基因作物正在为该行业带来更多挑战。此外，由于担心它们对人类健康、牲畜和环境的负面影响，一些有用的化学杀虫剂已经或正在被淘汰。
ICP is centered on cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to improve agricultural productivity in an environmentally friendly manner, driving value for growers and consumers alike. To this end, ICP will employ Oxitec’s diverse self-limiting gene platform for insect control as well as the ActoBiotics乳酸乳球菌 用于表达目标生物的系统，以开发特定物种的农业病虫害管理计划。
ICP’s pipeline of insect and fungal control programs will offer protection in both large acre row crops and high value specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables. These solutions are in various stages of development including ongoing as well as successfully completed field trials.
Sekhar Boddupalli, Ph.D., Intrexon’s current Vice President, Food and Nutrition, will serve as President of the new company from ICP’s Davis, California facility. Also joining ICP will be Simon Warner, Ph.D., Oxitec’s current Chief Science Officer who will oversee research on self-limiting insects for both companies.
Supplemental information on ICP in the form of a slide presentation is available in the Investors section of Intrexon’s website at http://investors.dna.com, and additional details regarding ICP will be shared on the company’s upcoming quarterly conference call scheduled for May 10', 2016.
资料来源：Intrexon