Crop chem and seed company Syngenta’s interest in ag biologicals has led it to reach a chemistry deal with one of its own former parents.
Syngenta in late February announced it’s bought the agricultural rights to Novartis’ repository of natural compounds and genetic strains, while Novartis keeps the exclusive rights to any pharmaceutical uses of those same chemistries and genetics.
Syngenta, in its announcement, didn’t put a dollar figure to the deal, which is expected to close in June. It will also include the transfer of Novartis’ natural products and biomolecular chemistry team to Syngenta, plus a lease on Novartis’ fermentation pilot plant and science labs in Basel, Switzerland.
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Access to the Novartis chemical and genetics roster gives Syngenta “an important source of novel leads for agricultural research,” the company said.
If you’ve been in farming for a while, of course you’ll remember the name Novartis not just from drug advertisements, but from when it had its own ag chem arm — which it spun off into a merger with the agribusiness arm of AstraZeneca back in 2000, forming Syngenta.
Several acquisitions and mergers later, Syngenta, Adama and the ag businesses of ChemChina and Sinochem gathered under the Syngenta Group banner in 2020. — D.B.
