CRISPR companies sharing IPO, will they get along?

December 21, 2016 News BioVox

Some of the biggest CRISPR-using companies have created an IP-sharing alliance on their technology. CRISPR Therapeutics, Intellia, Caribou Biosciences and ERS Genomics have banded together in an effort to protect their IP as a team. The companies rely on patents held by UC Berkley, Emmanuelle Charpentier (one of the main pioneers in the CRISPR field) and the University of Vienna.

“We believe that the Charpentier-University of California-Vienna IP estate constitutes the foundational IP in the CRISPR/Cas9 editing space,” said Rodger Novak, CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics. “Intellia, CRISPR Therapeutics, Caribou, and ERS view this agreement as enhancing the efforts to protect our shared intellectual property rights and support the ongoing development of our product candidates, as well as those of our corresponding partners and licensees.”

One notable absence from the gene editing alliance is Editas Medicine. Editas gets its IP from the MIT Broad institute, and it’s this academic institution that’s been battling the UC Berkley camp for months over IP claims. Editas will now have to deal with a united alliance instead of separate companies to defend its claims. It seems that the fight for perhaps the most revolutionary technology in decades is far from over.


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