Biotech, agriculture, Messenger

Eden Bioscience Folds

Luke Timmerman 12/5/08

Eden Bioscience, the agricultural biotechnology company that developed a crop-boosting product called Messenger, said today it has decided to shut down for good and liquidate its assets. The Woodinville, WA-based company (NASDAQ: EDEN) sold its proprietary harpin protein technology in February 2007 to Pittsburgh-based Plant Health Care. Since then, Eden has tried to sustain itself by selling to homeowners and gardeners. It was unable to find another company to buy what was left. The company had just one full-time employee as of March, and two part-time employees, according to its annual report.

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotechnology Editor for Xconomy. You can e-mail him at ltimmerman@xconomy.com, call 206-624-2374, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ldtimmerman.