Monsanto collaborated with Complix NV to bring new technologies to agriculture

Date:09-21-2012

Monsanto and Complix NV announced they have entered into a collaboration agreement to evaluate and develop Complix’s proprietary Alphabody® protein technology in the field of agriculture.

Complix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of its Alphabody® technology platform. Alphabodies are a unique class of protein therapeutics that are potentially active against a broad range of disease targets, including intracellular targets.  Alphabodies are small single chain alpha-helical proteins that are designed by computer modelling, but are inspired by naturally existing protein structures. This collaboration represents the first application of Complix’s Alphabody® technology in agriculture.

"Complix’s expertise in protein targeting technology offers a novel platform to further enhance our trait development capabilities,” said Bob Reiter, Monsanto’s Vice President of Biotechnology. “We believe this technology offers great promise and could contribute to development of new traits to protect plants from pests and diseases. We are pleased to work with Complix to develop this promising technology in a way that might deliver on-farm benefits to our grower customers.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Complix will grant Monsanto worldwide exclusive rights to access Complix’s Alphabody® platform technology for use in plant agriculture. Complix retains the exclusive rights on any discoveries made under this collaboration for use outside the field of plant agriculture. The agreement also includes options to expand the collaboration across multiple applications within plant agriculture. Further terms were not disclosed.

"We are delighted to have concluded this agreement with Monsanto a leading agricultural company with a strong track record of delivering innovations to the marketplace,” said Mark Vaeck, Chief Executive Officer of Complix NV. “By working with Monsanto, our partner of choice for this space, I am confident that we will be able to apply our Alphabody platform to address some of the most important challenges facing agriculture today and tomorrow. This strategic alliance, will also enable us to create significant value for our shareholders as it will contribute to further strengthening and expanding our Alphabody platform and help Complix to establish its leadership position in the field of cross-over therapeutics.”