NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Precision BioSciences said today that it is suing Lonza Group and a number of its affiliates for patent infringement.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, alleges that Switzerland-based Lonza's import and sale of its GS Xceed Gene Expression System and CHOK1SV knock-out cell line in the US infringes US Patent No. 8,377,674, which applies to Precision Bio's Directed Nuclease Editor genome editing technology.
According to the patent's abstract, the technology pertains to "[r]ationally designed LAGLIDADG meganucleases and methods of making such meganucleases." The patent also covers methods of using the meganucleases in order to generate recombinant cells and organisms "having a desired DNA sequence inserted into a limited number of loci within the genome" and other methods.
Precision Bio is asking for monetary damages and a permanent injunction preventing Lonza from importing and selling the GS Xceed Gene Expression System and CHOK1SV knock-out cell line in the US.
"Precision prefers to focus its business development efforts in a positive and productive manner," Matthew Kane, CEO of Precision Bio, said in a statement. "However, willful infringement of Precision's proprietary gene editing technology cannot be tolerated. … We cannot allow Lonza to import, market, and sell a product developed using our intellectual property to customers in the United States without a license to do so."
The Research Triangle Park, NC-based firm is embroiled in several patent infringement lawsuits with Paris-based Cellectis, and last month claimed victory in one of those cases.