DevGen
Encyclopedia
Devgen is a Belgium
-based multinational
agricultural biotechnology company
. It uses advanced biotechnology
and molecular breeding technologies to develop varieties of major food crops with higher yield or superior envirmonental properties. Its technology is marketed by outlicensing or selling seeds in South-East Asia. Additionally, Devgen is active as a developer of nematicides.
of Ghent University
and The Flemish Institute for Biotechnology in 1997. Initial investment came from the GIMV
investment company and the IWT
. The basis for the company was the intellectual property
it holds on the use of RNAi
in nematodes and its use for screening for novel therapeutics and/or their targets (Patent: WO 00/01846). Therefore, Devgen was originally founded as a biotechnology company with a strong pharmaceutical focus using the nematode C. elegans
as a model system. However, besides a disease model, nematodes are well known pests of major crops and Devgen also started a crop protection division for finding new nematocides and nematocide targets.
Devgen agrobusiness activities rapidly led to partnerships with the FMC Corporation (1999-?) and Sumitomo Chemical Company (2003-current) and later with Monsanto
(2004-current) and Pioneer Hi-Bred
(2004–2008), the largest and second-largest producers of hybrid seeds for agriculture, respectively. In 2004 it launched a second office in Singapore
and moved into a new research building on the Ardoyen Technology Campus. On this campus also other agrobiotech companies such as Bayer CropScience, BASF CropDesign
and the department Plant Systems Biology of the VIB are located.
, sunflower
, sorghum
and pearl millet
leading to the establishment of Devgen Seeds and Crop Technology Pvt Ltd employing 70 people and headed by Bipin Solanki (ex-Monsanto) as CEO. In November 2008 Devgen closed permanently its pharmaceutical division, focusing on its more successful agro-business. Some former Devgen employees supported by Devgen IP continued its pharmaceutical research in the company Armakem NV. In 2009, Devgen announced that it sold technology rights to Monsanto for 20 million € cash.
Devgen's nematicide reached maturity hitting the Turkish market under the brandname Devguard® for the use on Tomatoes and Cucumbers in 2009 and as Enclosure® in the US for use in commercial peanut production in May 2010. In 2010 Devgen has expanded business activities to India, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, the US
and South-Africa.
as an active ingredient. It is marketed as Devguard in Turkey for cucumbers and tomatoes. It has a good environmental safety profile and a short pre-harvest interval which enables growers to extend the treatment period. In the US on the market as Devguard for use on peanuts. It reduces nematode damage increasing quality and yield.
as a method of making plants resistant to pests such as insects and fungi. siRNAs that target vital proteins of a pest are expressed in crops. After digestion of the plant, the siRNAs silence the vital function in the pest. In November 2007, field trials have shown that Devgen's technology worked in protecting maize roots against certain beetles. Devgen is also introducing this technology in other crops such as cotton
and rice
.
to develop drought tolerant hybrid rice varieties and several promising biotech traits for abiotic stress tolerance (e.g. drought) and biotic stress resistance (pest and diseases) are being tested in the laboratory and the greenhouse.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
-based multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
agricultural biotechnology company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
. It uses advanced biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
and molecular breeding technologies to develop varieties of major food crops with higher yield or superior envirmonental properties. Its technology is marketed by outlicensing or selling seeds in South-East Asia. Additionally, Devgen is active as a developer of nematicides.
RNA interference spin off
Devgen was founded as a spin-offResearch spin-off
A research spin-off is a company that falls into at least one of the four following categories:#Companies that have an equity investment from a national library or university#Companies that license technology from a public research institute or university...
of Ghent University
Ghent University
Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...
and The Flemish Institute for Biotechnology in 1997. Initial investment came from the GIMV
GIMV
Gimv is a European investment company with experience in private equity and venture capital. The company is listed on Euronext Brussels. Gimv currently manages around EUR 2.0 billion of assets ....
investment company and the IWT
Institute for the promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology
The Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology is a public institution in Flanders to provide R&D and innovation support. The institute was established by the Flemish government in 1991...
. The basis for the company was the intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
it holds on the use of RNAi
RNAI
RNAI is a non-coding RNA that is an antisense repressor of the replication of some E. coli plasmids, including ColE1. Plasmid replication is usually initiated by RNAII, which acts as a primer by binding to its template DNA. The complementary RNAI binds RNAII prohibiting it from its initiation role...
in nematodes and its use for screening for novel therapeutics and/or their targets (Patent: WO 00/01846). Therefore, Devgen was originally founded as a biotechnology company with a strong pharmaceutical focus using the nematode C. elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
as a model system. However, besides a disease model, nematodes are well known pests of major crops and Devgen also started a crop protection division for finding new nematocides and nematocide targets.
Devgen agrobusiness activities rapidly led to partnerships with the FMC Corporation (1999-?) and Sumitomo Chemical Company (2003-current) and later with Monsanto
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
(2004-current) and Pioneer Hi-Bred
Pioneer Hi-Bred
Pioneer Hi-Bred is the largest U.S. producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture.- History :In 1926, farm journal editor and future U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, along with a group of Des Moines, Iowa businessmen, founded the "Hi-Bred Corn Company". At the time, most corn farmers saved part of...
(2004–2008), the largest and second-largest producers of hybrid seeds for agriculture, respectively. In 2004 it launched a second office in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and moved into a new research building on the Ardoyen Technology Campus. On this campus also other agrobiotech companies such as Bayer CropScience, BASF CropDesign
CropDesign
CropDesign is a biotech company located in Ghent, Belgium. The company develops a portfolio of agronomic traits for the global commercial seed markets. It has developed a technology platform to discover genetic traits for the improvement of corn, rice and other plants...
and the department Plant Systems Biology of the VIB are located.
Towards a seed company
In June 2005, employing close to 100 people, Devgen raised more than 30 million euro in a successful IPO on Euronext Brussels. Its focus by now had already shifted to crop protection. The first field trials with Devgen nematicides started in the US and Japan in 2006. These successful trials led to the launch its subsidiary Devgen US inc. in Delaware. In 2007, Devgen takes over some of Monsanto's activities in India involving distribution of hybrid seeds for 4 crops: riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, sunflower
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
, sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
and pearl millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
leading to the establishment of Devgen Seeds and Crop Technology Pvt Ltd employing 70 people and headed by Bipin Solanki (ex-Monsanto) as CEO. In November 2008 Devgen closed permanently its pharmaceutical division, focusing on its more successful agro-business. Some former Devgen employees supported by Devgen IP continued its pharmaceutical research in the company Armakem NV. In 2009, Devgen announced that it sold technology rights to Monsanto for 20 million € cash.
Devgen's nematicide reached maturity hitting the Turkish market under the brandname Devguard® for the use on Tomatoes and Cucumbers in 2009 and as Enclosure® in the US for use in commercial peanut production in May 2010. In 2010 Devgen has expanded business activities to India, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, the US
and South-Africa.
Nematicides
Devgen's marketed nematicides have IprodioneIprodione
Iprodione is an imidazole fungicide.-Application:Iprodion is used on crops affected by Botrytis bunch rot, Brown rot, Sclerotinia and other fungal diseases in plants. It is currently applied in a variety of crops: fruit, vegetables, ornamental trees and scrubs and on lawns...
as an active ingredient. It is marketed as Devguard in Turkey for cucumbers and tomatoes. It has a good environmental safety profile and a short pre-harvest interval which enables growers to extend the treatment period. In the US on the market as Devguard for use on peanuts. It reduces nematode damage increasing quality and yield.
Seeds
ao. Frontline Gold RH 1531. A high yielding, premium quality, medium duration hybrid riceRNAi technology
Devgen holds important IP for the use of RNAiRNAI
RNAI is a non-coding RNA that is an antisense repressor of the replication of some E. coli plasmids, including ColE1. Plasmid replication is usually initiated by RNAII, which acts as a primer by binding to its template DNA. The complementary RNAI binds RNAII prohibiting it from its initiation role...
as a method of making plants resistant to pests such as insects and fungi. siRNAs that target vital proteins of a pest are expressed in crops. After digestion of the plant, the siRNAs silence the vital function in the pest. In November 2007, field trials have shown that Devgen's technology worked in protecting maize roots against certain beetles. Devgen is also introducing this technology in other crops such as cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
.
Drought tolerance
Climate change is expected to increase the demand to drought tolerant crops such as rice. Devgen has both a biotech as well as a non-biotech research programs to reach this goal. In March 2010 Devgen closed a partnership with the International Rice Research InstituteInternational Rice Research Institute
The International Rice Research Institute is an international NGO. Its headquarters are in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, and it has offices in sixteen countries...
to develop drought tolerant hybrid rice varieties and several promising biotech traits for abiotic stress tolerance (e.g. drought) and biotic stress resistance (pest and diseases) are being tested in the laboratory and the greenhouse.