Key Takeaways
- Agragene has licensed Pairwise’s Fulcrum CRISPR platform to support its Precision-Guided Sterile Insect Technology (pgSIT).
- The agreement marks the first application of Pairwise’s Fulcrum platform in insects rather than crops.
- Agragene’s first product, KNOCKOUT SWD, targets spotted wing drosophila, a pest responsible for more than $1 billion in annual losses to U.S. and Canadian berry, cherry, and soft fruit crops.
- The sterile-insect approach is species-specific, meaning it suppresses only the target pest while leaving bees, ladybugs, and other beneficial insects unaffected.
- Agragene, founded in 2017 and based in St. Louis, Missouri, is pursuing a U.S. commercial launch alongside a global licensing strategy.
Agragene Licenses Pairwise’s Fulcrum Platform for Pest Control
Pairwise, an agricultural biotechnology company, announced on July 23, 2026 that it has signed a licensing agreement with Agragene, a sustainable agricultural technology company, granting Agragene access to Pairwise’s Fulcrum CRISPR platform. Agragene will fold the Fulcrum tools into its Precision-Guided Sterile Insect Technology (pgSIT), a system that produces sterile male insects to reduce pest populations in the field.
The deal marks the first time Pairwise has licensed the Fulcrum platform for use in insects rather than crop traits.
Targeting a Billion-Dollar Pest Problem
Agragene’s first product built on the pgSIT platform, KNOCKOUT SWD, targets spotted wing drosophila, an invasive fly blamed for more than $1 billion a year in losses to berry, cherry, and other soft fruit crops in the United States and Canada. Because the sterile-insect method is species-specific, Agragene says it suppresses only the target pest while leaving crops, bees, ladybugs, and the surrounding environment unaffected. Access to the Fulcrum platform’s CRISPR editing tools, enzymes, and trait libraries is meant to strengthen the genetic engineering behind Agragene’s pest control products.
Executives on the Partnership
“Growers are running out of options as pests develop resistance to conventional insecticides, and they are looking for tools that are safe, targeted, and sustainable,” said Bryan Witherbee, President and CEO of Agragene. “Our mission is to deliver cleaner pest control that supports healthier crops and a healthier planet. Access to Fulcrum strengthens the editing technology behind our pgSIT platform and helps us move faster from field trials towards practical tools growers can use.”
“Pairwise works across all of agriculture, which means partnering with people closest to the problems,” said Dr. Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. “Agragene is the first to apply Fulcrum in insect systems, and it’s exactly the kind of creative use we hoped good tools would find.”
Agragene’s Path to Commercialization
Founded in 2017 and based in St. Louis, Missouri, Agragene is pursuing a commercial launch of its pgSIT-based products in the United States alongside a licensing strategy aimed at partners worldwide. The company said the Fulcrum license should help it move more quickly from field trials to practical pest control tools that growers can adopt, building on Agragene’s existing work developing biological alternatives to conventional insecticides.
