| U.S. patent
granted to Novartis for thiamethoxam usage in seed treatment |
Greensboro, North Carolina
February 3, 1999
Novartis Crop Protection, Inc. said today that
it has been granted a U.S. patent for seed treatment usage of its new insecticide,
thiamethoxam, to be sold under the trade name Adage(TM). The company is moving ahead with
plans to register and launch Adage as a seed treatment on a broad range of crops,
including cotton, wheat, barley, canola,
sorghum, corn and potatoes.
The Environmental Protection Agency has given thiamethoxam an expedited review schedule
because of its "organophosphate replacement" classification. First seed
treatment registrations could be as early as 4th quarter 1999. The product controls a wide
variety of pests, including thrips, aphids, Colorado potato beetles, seed corn maggot,
Hessian fly, flea beetles, leafhoppers, chinch bugs and wireworms.
"Adage is a highly effective systemic insecticide from the neonicotinoid class of
chemistry, " said Don Elliott, director of Novartis’ seed treatment business
unit. "It has been extensively tested in the U.S. for the past five years and has
shown excellent control on a wide spectrum of sucking and chewing pests. It also provides
insect control at very low rates."
Elliott said the environmental and efficacy advantages of seed treatments such as AdageTM
are becoming widely recognized due to the direct placement of crop protectants at very low
rates.
"Adage moves quickly into the germinating seedling, even under dry conditions. It
gives more
consistent control than products currently available to growers," said Elliott.
Elliott said Novartis believes that Adage will become one of the most widely-used seed
treatment insecticides in the U.S. The company also considers Bayer AG’s recent
patent infringement lawsuit filed in Louisiana over thiamethoxam to be without merit and
not an obstacle to the upcoming product launch.
Novartis Crop Protection Inc., headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., is a leading supplier of
crop protection and specialty products. It is a sector company of Novartis AG, a world leader in Life Sciences with core
businesses in Healthcare, Agribusiness, and Consumer Health (Nutrition and
Self-Medication). In 1998 Novartis Group sales were $21.8 billion, of which $12 billion
were in Healthcare, $5.8 billion in Agribusiness, and $4 billion in Consumer Health. The
group annually invests more than $2.5 billion in research and development. Headquartered
in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis employs about 85,000 people and operates in over 100
countries around the world. N1572 |
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