Wageningen, The Netherlands
January 5, 2009

Keygene N.V. today announced a license agreement with BASF Plant Science, the plant biotech company of BASF. The respective intellectual property covers rights on genes that confer resistance to plant pathogens such as insects, fungi and nematodes. Under the terms of the agreement, BASF Plant Science will grant KeyGene milestone payments during the development phase as well as royalty payments on the commercialized crops. Financial details were not disclosed.

"We are very pleased with this agreement. It shows that major biotech companies recognize our intellectual property and support our strategic decision to explore new business models in order to maximize the value of our IP-portfolio,” KeyGene’s Vice President of IP and IP commercialization, Wim-Jan Koot said. “Equally important, the agreement also reflects our growing position in the field of plant disease resistance. The agreement with BASF Plant Science offers great potential for KeyGene to collaborate with other plant breeding companies in the plant resistance field”, he added.

Keygene N.V. is a R&D company with the mission to be the leading company in developing and applying DNA expertise in the field of molecular genetics with a focus on crop plants. In recent years KeyGene invested in next generation sequencing platforms to support its leading position in the field of plant molecular breeding and developed several new enabling technologies. KeyGene exploits its proprietary technologies, databases and know-how through strategic alliances, contract research and products for applications in the plant breeding industry. KeyGene has a subsidiary in Rockville Maryland, USA and a Joint Lab at the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences in Shanghai, China. In total KeyGene employs around 130 researchers and staff.

Applications for trademark registration for KeyGene have been filed by Keygene N.V.

Website: http://www.keygene.com

Published: January 5, 2009