Genesis Research and Development Corporation (NZX/ASX: GEN) confirms that it has completed the transfer of its plant sciences business to a wholly owned subsidiary, AgriGenesis Biosciences Limited, which is now trading as an independently managed company. Newly appointed Chief Executive Dr Peter Lee has a mandate to develop and commercialise the company’s portfolio of products.

Dr Lee, who returned to New Zealand from the U.S. where he had been commercialising new technologies for global markets in the forest products sector, will report directly to the Genesis Board. Dr Jim Watson will continue as Chief Executive of Genesis Research with full responsibility for the human health programmes. A corporate services team will support both companies.

David Irving, Chairman of Genesis Research, said that in response to expressions of interest by trade investors, Genesis is considering raising capital in AgriGenesis from trade investors and has appointed ABN AMRO Craigs as an advisor.

“Although AgriGenesis is a new company, it’s no startup,” said Dr Lee. “It derives immense strength from plant research programmes undertaken by Genesis over the last nine years and from the strong base of agricultural technology developed in New Zealand. We have already made significant progress toward our chosen targets which have global commercial potential.”

Founded in 1994, Genesis is a New Zealand based biotechnology company. It is committed to the building of a broad genomic platform for the development of innovative products in biotechnology. Genesis partners with industry leaders to develop products that have global market potential through the mining of its extensive EST databases. The Health Division focuses on the immune system and has two programmes in Phase II clinical studies for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (eczema), with additional programmes for cancer and other indications in pre-clinical development. The patented BioStore solutions for storage of tissues and living cells are also in pre-clinical development. Collaborations are maintained with Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN), Corixa Corporation (Nasdaq: CRXA), SR Pharma (LSE: SPA), Jurox Pty Ltd, and EvoGenix Pty Ltd. The company has an extensive patent portfolio.

AgriGenesis Biosciences Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genesis Research and Development Corporation Ltd. It focuses on key cell signalling genes – novel hormones and transcription factors – to control commercial traits including growth rates and wood fibre quality in trees, nutritional content of forage grasses, flowering control and stress tolerance. It has an extensive patent portfolio and research collaborations with ArborGen, LLC, Wrightson Ltd (NZX: WRI), HortResearch, AgResearch and Landcare. AgriGenesis has long-term grants from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology and Technology NZ, and is also undertaking significant unpartnered research programmes in novel plant hormones.