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Under this agreement Bayer CropScience and M.S. Technologies will combineproprietary technologies and will make them available for insertion into high-yielding elite germplasm contributed by Mertec LLC. The agreement allows forresulting traits and products to be broadly licensed to the seed industry.Bayer CropScience will undertake to obtain the necessary global authorizationsfor the soybean traits developed under the collaboration agreement and toobtain approvals for the associated herbicide use. Financial details of theagreement are not disclosed.
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One of the first products expected from the collaboration will be soybeanvarieties with tolerance to both glyphosate and to HPPD inhibitors, a class ofherbicides that include Bayer's Balance(R) Pro brand isoxaflutole, currentlyused in corn in the United States. The combination of HPPD inhibitorstolerance plus glyphosate tolerance will offer growers flexibility in theirherbicide choices, with the herbicide combination offering the potential forone pass weed control as well as effective weed resistance management.
These products are expected to be followed by other multi-traitcombinations, including a triple herbicide tolerant stack with LibertyLink(R),thus further broadening choices for farmers.
"We are very pleased that together with these strong partners Mertec andM.S. Technologies, we can offer both traits and new herbicide options, givinggrowers a host of new weed control options for their soybean crops," saidFriedrich Berschauer, CEO of Bayer CropScience. "We consider this a furtherstep in our strategy to maximise the value of our innovative biotech traitscoming out of our extensive research pipeline and to strengthen our positionin the U.S. soybean market."
"We are excited by the potential benefits this collaboration with BayerCropScience offers to growers and the industry," said Harry H. Stine, aDirector of M.S. Technologies. "As a result of this collaboration, soybeangrowers will have better solutions to optimize productivity and maximize peracre profits. We are pleased to be working with Bayer, whose knowledge ofherbicide technology and worldwide regulatory expertise will help us bringthese novel products to market."
The collaboration builds on the existing relationship between BayerCropScience and MS Technologies, a key partner in the development of BayerCropScience's LibertyLink herbicide tolerant trait in soybeans. As a result ofthis already existing cooperation, LibertyLink soybeans are planned to beintroduced to the market in 2009. LibertyLink will be the only alternativenon-selective herbicide tolerant system enabling growers to maintain currentproduction practices but rotate weed management systems in order to avoid weedresistance.
About Bayer CropScience
The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in thefields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScienceAG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 5.7 billion(2006), is one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in theareas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plantbiotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of products andextensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer CropScience has a global workforce of about17,900 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further newsare available at: http://www.newsroom.bayercropscience.com.
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