Agricultural biotechnology company <a target=new href=http://www.evogene.com/>Evogene Ltd.</a> (NYSE: <a href=Javascript:viewInstrument('EVGN',4,'EN')>EVGN</a>; TASE:<a href=Javascript:viewInstrument('11050551',45,'EN')>EVGN</a>) will cooperate with giant chemical company BASF in an attempt to discover and develop novel herbicides. Evogene, which improves crops and plant qualities, has a current market cap of $171 million, while BASF's market cap is €65.7 billion. Under the three-year cooperation agreement, Evogene will use its technology to identify new chemicals potentially useful as herbicides, and BASF will use Evogene's plant platform to screen the candidate chemicals in order to experimentally validate their biological effects on weeds. Chemicals that successfully pass the screening will continue in BASF's development process.
<p>Evogene and BASF provided no particulars about the terms of the agreement, but it is likely that it resembles Evogene's previous agreements with large companies in the seeds segment, and includes royalties on the finished product, if and when it reaches the market in several years. Before then, Evogene will receive payments on the basis of development milestones, making a total of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the potential of the final product.
<p>Evogene has agreements with companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, and Bayer, but this is its first agreement in the chemical field. Evogene president and CEO Ofer Haviv said, "This is fantastic for us, because beyond the herbicides, there is also potential here for future expansion into fungicides and pesticides. This is creating an entire new market for our technology."
<p>Haviv explained that as of now, the chemical method for herbicides is "to throw a chemical at a weed" and hope that the weed dies. With the passage of time, however, the weeds develop resistance to the existing herbicides. "The herbicide is a synthetic molecule that is able to enter the plant cell and stick to the protein. If the protein is critical for the plant's existence, it dies," he says. All the herbicides are aimed at a limited number of proteins in the plant, but as their use continues, the plants develop resistance. The molecule sticks to the protein, but the protein is no longer critical to the plant's existence, because it has developed a bypass mechanism, and the plant continues to thrive. "It is necessary to find a new protein, and to find a chemical that stops its activity," Haviv relates. "This protein is an expression of a gene, and this is where Evogene comes in. Our systems look at the genomics of the plants, and find genes that are focused on proteins critical for the plant. Last year, we found and tested such new proteins."
<p>BASF Crop Protection VP Global Research Herbicides & Services said, “Weed resistance is a pressing issue for many growers across the world. Thus, establishing such a partnership to help us identify and develop herbicides with novel modes of action is more needed than ever before. It is a great opportunity to combine Evogene’s expertise in plant physiology and computational biology with BASF’s strength in lead structure optimization and product development.”
<p><i>Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - <a href=http://www.globes-online.com>www.globes-online.com</a> - on December 8, 2015</i><p><i>© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015</i>