Icoria to use its high throughput screening process to seek products that improve crop traits, yields and ability to withstand weather changes

Integrated systems biology company Icoria, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOR), announced today that it has signed an agreement with DuPont Crop Protection to screen a DuPont chemical library to identify compounds that improve crop productivity by increasing nutrient uptake and tolerance to environmental stress. Pursuant to this agreement, Icoria will also make the results of its ChemTraits™ screening process available to DuPont Crop Protection for evaluation.

The agreement includes an undisclosed upfront payment and potential milestone payments and royalties.

“Through our ChemTraits™ program, Icoria is looking for ways to trigger a plant’s natural genetic capacity to respond to environmental stress and suboptimal growing conditions,” said Keith Davis, Ph.D., Icoria Vice President, Agricultural Biotechnology. “The DuPont Crop Protection agreement is a natural fit with our ongoing ChemTraits™ effort and leverages the expertise we have developed in our GeneFunction Factory® work aimed at identifying genes that can be used for crop improvement.” GeneFunction Factory® is Icoria’s state-of-the-art phenomics platform integrated with metabolic profiling and gene expression profiling technologies.

“We are excited about the ChemTraits™ program and the opportunity to work with a major company in the agriculture industry,” said Heinrich Gugger, Ph.D., Icoria President and CEO. “We could be entering an era where we use chemicals to turn on a plant’s inherent abilities, either instead of or in addition to genetic engineering.”

Icoria’s ChemTraits™ approach uses externally applied chemicals rather than genetic engineering to modify a plant’s behavior. Developmental ChemTraits™ compounds are expected to have a better safety profile than biocides. They also can be used on demand, which can help farmers adjust to changing weather and climate conditions and maximize their yields.

Pat Confalone, Ph.D., DuPont Crop Protection Global R&D Director said, “DuPont Crop Protection is intensely interested in expanding the use of agrichemicals to applications beyond pest control. We believe the unique approach offered by the integrated systems biology that is central to Icoria’s technology affords a novel opportunity to discover products that directly impact crop traits, yield and resistance to abiotic stresses.”

Icoria, Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to deciphering the complexity of biological processes through the application of systems biology to identify biomarkers for drug discovery and development, diagnostics and to develop novel agrichemicals. Icoria has major contracts with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Monsanto Company and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (a subsidiary of DuPont). Icoria also has a major grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology's Advanced Technology Program.