New Brunswick, New Jersey
July 24, 2007
Senesco Technologies, Inc. ("Senesco" or the "Company")
(AMEX: SNT) announced today that
Bayer CropScience
was granted the exclusive rights to Senesco's proprietary gene
technology for use in cotton. The agreement anticipates
that the licensed technology will enable Bayer CropScience to
significantly enhance cotton fiber and seed yields in its
flagship FiberMax® brand on a global basis. In return, Senesco
will receive success-bound development milestone and royalty
payments upon commercialization. Specific financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed.
"In November 2006, Senesco and Bayer CropScience entered into an
exclusive license agreement for use of Senesco's gene technology
in canola. That agreement established a strong working
relationship between our companies. We are very pleased to build
upon that relationship with this new license agreement for
cotton," said Bruce Galton, President of Senesco.
Dr. Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, Head of Research at
BioScience, a business operations unit of Bayer CropScience,
welcomes the new business relationship with Senesco: "After the
successful conclusion of our agreement with Senesco on canola
last year, we are pleased that we could now extend this
relationship to Cotton as well. Bayer CropScience has grown to
be a leading company in the cotton seed market with FiberMax®,
our high quality, high yield cotton varieties. We anticipate
that the innovative Senesco technology will contribute to
further strengthen our leadership position in the global cotton
markets."
Senesco Technologies, Inc. is a U.S. biotechnology company.
Senesco has initiated preclinical research to trigger or delay
cell death in mammals (apoptosis) to determine if the technology
is applicable in human medicine. Accelerating apoptosis may have
applications to development of cancer treatments. Delaying
apoptosis may have applications to certain diseases such as
glaucoma, ischemia and arthritis, among others. Senesco takes
its name from the scientific term for the aging of plant cells:
senescence. The Company has developed technology that regulates
the onset of cell death.
Delaying cell breakdown in plants extends freshness after
harvesting, while increasing crop yields, plant size and
resistance to environmental stress for flowers, fruits and
vegetables. In addition to its human health research programs,
the Company believes that its technology can be used to develop
superior strains of crops without any modification other than
delaying natural plant senescence. Senesco has partnered with
leading-edge companies engaged in agricultural biotechnology and
earns research and development fees for applying its
gene-regulating platform technology to enhance its partners'
products.
Senesco is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, is one of the
world's leading innovative crop science companies in the areas
of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and
plant biotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of
products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable
agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer
CropScience has a global workforce of about 17,900 and is
represented in more than 120 countries.
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