Newsham Genetics teams with European company to expand R&D |
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Newsham Genetics LC, the third largest supplier of genetics to the North American pork industry, has formed a joint venture with a new European swine genetics company to share technology and accelerate product development.
Known as Gentec, the new biotechnology company is co-owned by Newsham and the newly formed Rattlerow-Seghers, a swine genetics company comprised of the former Seghers Genetics BV in Belgium and Rattlerow, a UK-based business with more than 45 years of swine genetics experience.
Major investors in Rattlerow-Seghers, which will be based in Belgium, include Costa, a major swine integrator based in Spain, and Bucolica BV, an investment group from the Netherlands that has an investment in Newsham.
Gentec will be based in Belgium and headed by Dr. Nadine Buys, the molecular geneticist who directed Seghers Genetics’ R&D program. According to Buys, Gentec will continue all research projects started by the former Seghers Gentec and continue to focus on performance-associated genetic markers, meat quality and embryo-transfer techniques.
As part of the transaction, the new biotech venture inherits the Seghers Genetics patent on BGM+, a major genetic marker allowing fast genetic progress in muscle mass without compromising meat quality and growth. According to Buys, BGM+ is the first chromosomal region inherited through paternal imprinting.
Gentec is expected to be the first of several collaborations between Seghers Newsham and Rattlerow-Seghers, according to Brent Mitchell, vice president sales and marketing for Newsham.
“Although both companies are independent and for now will focus on their respective markets — Newsham on the Americas and Rattlerow-Seghers on Europe — we are both committed to building a broader genetic base, developing new products and providing exciting options for the world pork industry,” Mitchell says.
Newsham is committed to developing high-performance, high-health genetics. For more information on the company and its product line, contact Newsham Genetics, 7755 Office Plaza Drive, Suite 165, West Des Moines, Iowa 50266, and USA. Phone: 888-734-4377.