Cellectis plant sciences and Bayer CropScience strengthen genome engineering partnership

Regulatory News:

Cellectis plant sciences, the plant genome engineering company and subsidiary of Cellectis (Paris:ALCLS), today announced that it has signed a research and commercial agreement with Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG and a leader in crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology, to collaborate on the use of meganucleases in plants. The aim of this agreement is to develop commercial products for the agricultural seed markets using new breeding techniques such as gene stacking and targeted mutagenesis, two approaches key to the development of agricultural products.

Cellectis and Bayer CropScience have collaborated since 2006 in the area of plant genome engineering under a research and evaluation agreement to assess the value for commercial applications of the Meganuclease technology. Following the successful evaluation of the use of meganucleases in plant cells, the companies have decided to extend the partnership into a framework research and commercial agreement. Under the terms of the new agreement, Cellectis plant sciences will provide Bayer CropScience with custom-designed meganucleases for plant genomes, to introduce targeted modifications to selected genes and genomes.

"This new agreement enhances the relationship with Bayer CropScience, a leader in the field of Agbiotech. It will enable innovative and impactful products to key seed markets,” said André Choulika, Chairman and CEO of Cellectis Group. "The extension of our relationship provides validation for our technology platform and demonstrates our ability to deliver significant value to plants sciences.”

Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

About Cellectis plant sciences

Established in March 2010, Cellectis plant sciences is a subsidiary of Cellectis dedicated to the applications of meganucleases in plants. Its main mission is to increase and accelerate usage of Cellectis’ proprietary technology in agricultural biology, broaden the company’s platform to attract new and expanded licensing opportunities and explore the development of proprietary traits for selected applications. Cellectis plant sciences is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. Professor Daniel Voytas, Chief Scientific Officer of Cellectis plant sciences, is also Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Genome Engineering.

About Cellectis

Cellectis improves life by applying its genome engineering expertise to a broad range of applications, including agriculture, bioresearch and human therapeutics. Cellectis is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market (code: ALCLS) in Paris.

For further information about Cellectis, visit our website at: www.cellectis.com

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About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 6.830 billion (2010), 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 20,700 and is represented in more than 120 countries.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe, for shares in Cellectis in any country. This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to the Company’s objectives based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company’s management only and involve risk and uncertainties that could cause the Company to fail to achieve the objectives expressed by the forward-looking statements.