FMC, Micropep Technologies In Deal To Co-develop Bioherbicide Solutions

(RTTNews) - FMC Corp. (FMC), an agricultural sciences company, announced Tuesday a strategic collaboration with Micropep Technologies, a micropeptide technology company, to develop biological solutions to control destructive herbicide-resistant weeds that reduce crop yields. The companies did not disclose the specific terms of the agreement.

The partnership is expected to accelerate the ongoing development of natural weed control products based on short protein molecules naturally produced by plant cells.

Under an exclusive multi-year deal, the companies will focus on developing new solutions for controlling key herbicide-resistant weeds in corn and soybeans.

They will combine their respective R&D capabilities leveraging Micropep's technology to expedite and improve the success rate in identifying innovative biological herbicides.

In the deal, the companies seek to develop a selective natural herbicide effective in controlling major resistant weeds by combining Micropep's proprietary AI-powered micropeptide discovery platform with FMC's strong scientific and commercial capabilities.

Kathleen Shelton, FMC executive vice president and chief technology officer, said, "We are pleased to collaborate with Micropep in developing novel micropeptide technology to address resistance management. These novel mode-of-action biomolecules in agriculture represent an exciting new frontier; this is a completely new solution compared to what is available to growers today."