Monsanto acquires Duke University agrobiotech spinoff

Monsanto has acquired a Durham-based Duke University spinoff after a long-term partnership between the two companies.

Grassroots Biotechnology, led by CEO Doug Eisner, was bought by Monsanto for an undisclosed sum earlier this month. The company developed a gene-expression platform and other agricultural technologies to complement Monsanto’s portfolio. It was founded in 2007 by Eisner and Duke researcher Philip Benfey.

Right at the beginning, Eisner saw the potential profit in a big agriculture partnership.

“We started going to agbiotechs to see if we could get a collaboration going,” he explains, adding that Monsanto was quickly hooked, leading to a partnership that propelled the small company’s growth. At the time of the acquisition, Grassroots had 25 employees.

The partnership, originally intended to last three years, aimed to source genetic elements that could enable crops to increase yields. Specifically, Grassroots sourced what are called “promoters,” or segments of DNA that determine when and where a genetic trait is expressed within a plant. In 2009, Monsanto said it would use the promoters in a broad range of crops, including corn, soy, cotton and canola.

That partnership was extended in 2011.

Eisner couldn’t be specific about the outcome of the collaboration, but said that it was in use in Monsanto’s research pipeline.

“The plant biotech world is somewhat like the drug world in that it takes more than 10 years and many dollars to get things into the field,” he says. “Our products are somewhere along that pipeline and will eventually be commercialized.”

Research employees were transferred to Monsanto as part of the deal. Eisner exited the company, but Benfey is staying on as an adviser.

Grants, Eisner explains, propelled the company from the beginning, including a National Science Foundation grant of $150,000, which was matched with a $100,000 grant from the state. That money allowed the company to establish itself and seek the partnership that eventually led to the acquisition, he says.

He thinks Grassroots research employees will remain downtown, at least in the short term. Monsanto also has a facility in Research Triangle Park.