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28 September 2016Americas

Monsanto enters into CRISPR/Cas licensing deal

Agrochemical company Monsanto has entered into a global licensing agreement with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to use the CRISPR/Cas genome-editing technology in agriculture.

In a statement released on September 22, Tom Adams, biotechnology lead for Monsanto, said: “The licence to CRISPR/Cas from the Broad Institute provides access to an exciting tool for our growing body of genome-editing research.”

He added: “Genome-editing technology is complementary to our ongoing discovery research and provides an incredible resource to further unlock our world-leading germplasm and genome libraries.”

Under the agreement, Monsanto has been granted a worldwide non-exclusive licence for agriculture applications of CRISPR/Cas.

Issi Rozen, chief business officer of the Broad Institute, said: “We are encouraged to see these tools being used to help deliver responsible solutions to help farmers meet the demands of our growing population.”

The Broad Institute works on the development and sharing of CRISPR genome-editing technologies and owns several US patents covering CRISPR/Cas9.

The institute is locked in an interference proceeding with the University of California to clarify who owns the rights to the technology.

In August, the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected the Broad Institute’s request for a time extension before the start of the patent dispute.


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23 May 2018   Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont, has signed a licensing deal with Monsanto to use its technology for fighting insects found on corn.

More on this story

Americas
23 May 2018   Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont, has signed a licensing deal with Monsanto to use its technology for fighting insects found on corn.