BEIJING, July 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology company, today announced that the Company has entered into a collaboration agreement with Biotechnology Research Institute (BRI), a division of Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences (CAAS) to expand collaborations in GMO soybean research and commercialization. In addition to glyphosate tolerance G2-epsps gene, which BRI developed and Origin has global exclusive commercial rights in corn, soybean, and other major crops, Origin and BRI will expand our collaboration to develop dicamba tolerance, drought tolerance, and salt-alkaline tolerance GMO soybean varieties by using three BRI newly developed and patented genes.
Over the years, Origin has been cooperating with BRI in developing various GM traits, including GMO phytase corn, glyphosate tolerance corn, and double stacked insect resistance and glyphosate tolerance corn. The phytase corn trait received bio-safety approval in 2009. A number of elite phytase commercial corn hybrids have been developed and pending for variety bio-safety approval. Glyphosate tolerance corn and double stacked insect resistance/glyphosate tolerance corn have completed most trails and are in the government approval process. By using G2-epsps gene, BRI developed GMO glyphosate tolerance soybean, which received a bio-safety certificate on July 15, 2020.
The new collaboration agreement deepens Origin's cooperation with BRI and mainly focuses on related research and commercialization of GMO soybean. BRI will focus on fundamental research and provide technical support to Origin on GMO soybean product development and global commercialization.
"We are very pleased to further deepen our collaboration with Origin," said Dr. Li Xinhai, director of BRI, "the new agreement will definitely promote GMO soybean research and commercialization which will increase soybean production and benefit Chinese farmers and consumers in China as well as other parts of the world."
About BRI and CAAS
CAAS is a national, integrative agricultural scientific research organization in China with responsibility for carrying out both basic and applied research, as well as research into new technologies impacting agriculture. BRI of CAAS is the only public, non-profit institution focusing on the frontiers of both basic and applied research of agro-biotechnology in China. The Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Center for Biosafety Assessment of GMOs are affiliated with BRI.
About Origin Agritech Limited
Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is China's leading agricultural technology. In crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech's phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. For further information, please visit the Company's website at: http://www.originseed.com.cn or http://www.originseed.com.cn/en/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and contain words like "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will," "would," "target," and similar expressions and variations. Forward-looking statements address matters that are uncertain. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and expectations which may not be realized. They are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates but involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control. Some of the important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements are: failure to develop and market new products and optimally manage product life cycles; ability to respond to market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies affecting our products; failure to appropriately manage process safety and product stewardship issues; changes in laws and regulations or political conditions; global economic and capital markets conditions, such as inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; business or supply disruptions; natural disasters and weather events and patterns; ability to protect and enforce the company's intellectual property rights; and separation of underperforming or non-strategic assets or businesses. The company undertakes no duty or obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments, or new information or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.
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