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Horizon Expands CRISPR-Cas9 Portfolio with Broad Institute Licensing Deal

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Horizon Discovery today announced it has reached a non-exclusive licensing agreement with the Broad Institute for intellectual property related to the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system.

Horizon has gained the rights for the commercial use of the technology for applications such as the development of reagents and tools, as well as the provision of services that use CRISPR. Those services include Horizon's Genassist offering, which encompasses products and services for CRISPR and rAAV gene editing.

Access to the Broad technology, Horizon said, will allow it to be extensively deployed across the company's products, services, and leveraged R&D. The US Patent and Trademark Office issued the first patent for the CRISPR-Cas9 system in April to the Broad.

Last month, Horizon licensed another CRISPR-Cas9 technology from ERS Genomics developed by Emmanuelle Charpentier from the Hannover Medical School in Germany and Umea University in Sweden.

In a statement today, Horizon CEO Darrin Disley said that the firm is "committed to gaining access to the widest range of CRISPR IP as possible," so that its customers and partners can be "secure in the knowledge that they have the freedom to pursue their research and commercial goals when they choose to work with us."

Financial and other terms of the deal with the Broad were not disclosed.

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