ST. LOUIS and ROMAINVILLE, France, Sept. 1, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monsanto Company today announced a non-exclusive research and commercial license agreement with France-based Cellectis S.A. (Alternext: ALCLS), a biotechnology company specialized in genome engineering, for broad use of its meganuclease technology in plants.
Cellectis will receive an upfront payment of euro 3 million, and subject to the approval of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Cellectis’ shareholders, Monsanto will make an equity investment of euro 1 million to allow Cellectis to scale the technology for agriculture. Cellectis will also be eligible to receive fees for the development of each meganuclease, success-based milestones and may receive royalties on certain traits commercialized by Monsanto. Further financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
“This agreement with Monsanto, the leader in agricultural biotechnology, could allow our meganuclease-based genome engineering technology to be put to use in developing the next generation of quality crops,” said Andre Choulika, chief executive officer of Cellectis. “The number of meganuclease users in agricultural biotechnology continues to grow. This agreement confirms our leading position in targeted gene modifications.”
About Cellectis
Cellectis S.A. is a world leader in genome engineering and genome surgery. For more information on Cellectis, visit our website www.cellectis.com.
SOURCE Monsanto Company
CONTACT: Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair of Monsanto, +1-314-694-4490; or Sylvie
Delassus of Cellectis, +331 4183 9900; or Caroline Carmagnol of ALIZE RP,
+33 6 64 18 99 59
Web site: http://www.monsanto.com/
http://www.cellectis.com//
