Agriculture technology company Origin Agritech has entered a commercialisation agreement with Institute of Plant Protection (IPP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) for a new generation insect-resistant GMO corn gene
Origin has worked closely with CAAS for more than 10 years and IPP provided Origin with the insect-resistant gene and technological support. Origin has since taken the gene and created transgenic corn, and continued to validate the insect-resistant gene's effectiveness.
Since this major hurdle has been cleared by the project, the parties have expanded their collaboration to include a marketing agreement.
The parties will continue to work together under the terms of the agreement and intend to jointly file patents on transgenic corn and other crops created from this gene.
Origin will be responsible for obtaining a certificate of bio-safety, which is a major step necessary before commercialisation in China. Origin will retain worldwide exclusive rights to market all crop seed containing this gene and will pay IPP a one-digit percentage of the sales royalty in return.
Dr Jie Zhang, deputy director of IPP, said that Origin Agritech is a leader in crop genetic transformation in China and has outstanding advantages in the breeding and industrialisation of new varieties.
“We are thankful to have a partner with all the capabilities needed to commercialise the corn that was created based on the gene that we invented,” he added.
Dr Gengchen Han, Origin’s chairman and CEO, said, “Institute of Plant Protection has some of the world’s brightest geneticists working to develop crops that are insect resistant, drought-tolerant, and higher-yielding.
“We are excited to take their gene and create a product out of it as we see a huge need for insect-resistant crops in China.”
