BASF, Chinas NIBS To Cooperate On Biotech

Date:02-12-2008

BASF Plant Science and the National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS) announced a crop biotechnology cooperation and licensing agreement in the area of crop biotechnology. This cooperation agreement, the first for BASF in China, focuses on increasing yields with crops such as corn, soy and rice, according to Chemical Newsflash.

"Asia is emerging as a key player in plant biotechnology both in research and cultivation, and we are striving to intensify partnerships in this dynamic region. Europe, on the contrary, is losing its competitiveness due to slow and contradictory political decisions," said Dr. Hans Kast, President and CEO of BASF Plant Science.

NIBS has identified a family of genes that have shown to increase crop yield. Under the agreement, the institute will further analyze the detailed functions of the identified genes before they enter BASFs R&D pipeline. Professor Deng Xing Wang, plant biologist and one of two co-directors at NIBS, said, "We are very proud that our efforts in this area have lead to groundbreaking results in a little more than four years.?br/>
Under the agreement, BASF Plant Science obtains exclusive rights to develop and commercialize transgenic crops with the discovered genes outside China. NIBS retains the right to market crops in China. In October 2007, BASF Plant Science announced another cooperation agreement with the South Korean Crop Functional Genomics Center, CFGC.