Paradigm/Bayer Partnership Expanded

BT Catalyst,  July, 2001  

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Paradigm Genetics Inc. (Nasdaq: PDGM) of Research Triangle Park will receive up to $30 million under an extension and expansion of a commercial partnership with Bayer AG (NYSE: BAYZ) of Leverkusen, Germany.

Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate on herbicide discovery for an additional five years, with three years of committed funding, plus a two-year option that would extend the collaboration to October 2006. Paradigm will also receive milestone payments and success fees for all products that reach the market.

"This extension underscores the continued success of the collaboration between our two companies and the impact that functional genomics is having on product discovery," said John A. Ryals, Ph.D., president and CEO of Paradigm Genetics. "Bayer's decision to extend our collaboration beyond the original scope is a strong endorsement of our high-throughput technologies, and the value of our data and the assays that we develop."

The herbicide partnership between the two companies began in October 1998 with the objective of using Paradigm's gene-function discovery technology to define a portfolio of novel herbicide products that Bayer will develop and market. The term of the original agreement was three years with an option to extend the relationship by another two years. Under that agreement, Paradigm has received research and technical milestone payments. "Our decision to extend and expand our partnership with Paradigm Genetics was based on the high level of success we have had to date," said Dr. Detlef Wollweber, head of research for the crop protection business group of Bayer.

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