Cambridge, Massachusetts and St. Louis, Missouri, USA
December 11, 2014
Nimbus Discovery, a biotechnology company discovering novel approaches for previously inaccessible disease targets, and Monsanto Company, today announced the achievement of the first milestone in their research collaboration. The research collaboration, which was announced last year, focuses on the development of new discoveries to help farmers control diseases and promote overall plant health.
Under the collaboration, Nimbus and Monsanto are co-developing agricultural fungicides using Nimbus’ innovative research tools and Monsanto’s agricultural testing capabilities. With today’s announcement, Monsanto will make an undisclosed payment to Nimbus based on the demonstration of activity of novel, broad-spectrum fungicides in key crops of interest.
Growers around the world are continuously searching for new tools to help them control fungal infestations which impact their harvest on farms. Today, it is estimated that fungal infestations reduce global yields 13 percent on average despite the use of resistant crop varieties and the approximately $14 billion that is spent annually on fungicide treatments.
Fungal infections appear as rusts, leaf spots, mildews and blights on a range of important crops. Novel fungicides would provide growers with additional tools to prevent yield loss, as well as combat emerging resistance to existing fungicide treatments or applications.
Under the terms of the agreement, a jointly-owned entity has been created that has access to Nimbus’ validated computational and molecular-evolution platform. Monsanto has rights to applications within agriculture and Nimbus will retain rights for all other applications.
About Nimbus
Nimbus Discovery, a biotechnology company, harnesses cutting-edge computational technologies to uncover breakthroughs in small molecule pharmacology. Nimbus focuses on medically important and highly sought-after disease targets that have proven inaccessible to traditional industry approaches, and its robust pre-clinical pipeline currently includes novel agents for the treatment of cancer, metabolic disease and inflammation. Nimbus is organized as a constellation of small, nimble teams of experienced drug-hunters deployed across program-focused subsidiary companies. Each team is freed from conventional barriers to scientific success, chartered to create solutions, and geared for program asset deals with leading pharmaceutical companies. Founded in 2009, Nimbus partnered with Schrödinger to invent and apply a physics-based approach that establishes a new standard for rational drug design. Nimbus is backed by world-class life science investors, including Atlas Venture, SR One, Lilly Ventures and Bill Gates. The company has been named by FierceBiotech as one of 2013's Fierce 15, designating it as one of the most promising private biotechnology companies in the industry.
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