Paris, France
January 9, 2014

Cellectis plant sciences, the plant Genome engineering specialist, today announced the attainment of an important milestone in its collaboration with Medicago Inc. (Quebec City, Canada). In January 2012 Cellectis and Medicago entered into a research agreement to improve therapeutic proteins expressed from tobacco leaves.

At this point, the intended modifications of all targeted genes have been obtained and the 8 edited alleles are assembled in a Nicotiana benthamiana plants without detectable morphological or growth defects. Medicago retains non-exclusive and exclusive rights on the production and commercialization of certain biologics. Cellectis retains sub-licensing rights on this bioproduction tool.

Luc Mathis, CEO of Cellectis plant sciences commented: "The assembly, in plants, of mutations in all 8 targeted alleles – in less than 2 years – further proves the efficacy of our synthetic biology platform for the Plant Biotech industry. With the cost of biologics drugs becoming an issue for the healthcare industry, we are proud to have developped with Medicago a competitive bioproduction tool that we intend to make broadly available."

Andy Sheldon, President and CEO of Medicago said: "I congratulate Cellectis plant sciences for the achievement of this milestone and look forward to ongoing collaboration."

Website: http://www.cellectis.com

Published: January 9, 2014