Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences Collaborate on EXZACT Technology

Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC have announced that the companies have reached 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,” said Tom Adams, Ph.D., 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.”

“EXZACT technology is helping to deliver next generation crop improvements into the hands of farmers,” said Daniel R. Kittle, Ph.D., vice president, research and development, Dow AgroSciences. “Broad adoption of EXZACT by industry partners, such as Monsanto, expands access to solutions that will improve grower productivity and profitability.”

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. 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.