NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Nucleic acids production company Aldevron said today it has signed a licensing agreement with Integrated DNA Technologies to manufacture and distribute an S. pyogenes Cas9 variant patented by IDT — known as SpyFi Cas9 Nuclease — for research, clinical, and commercial uses.
"A significant amount of development effort went into making an S. pyogenes HiFi Cas9 mutant that worked in ribonucleoprotein formats, compatible with use in ex vivo clinical protocols," IDT CSO Mark Behlke said in a statement. "We are excited to expand our collaboration with Aldevron to make available a full [good manufacturing practices] version of this novel protein and to better serve the biomedical community, in addition to our traditional research markets."
SpyFi Cas9 was engineered to have fewer off-target effects than wild-type SpCas9 nuclease, according to Aldevron's website. When used in combination with effective guide, target site, and double-stranded DNA cutting strategies, SpyFi Cas9 is also expected to deliver greater editing efficiency and higher fidelity than the wild-type SpCas9.
Aldevron added it plans to have research-grade SpyFi Cas9 available for shipment in December 2017, and anticipates having clinical grade SpyFi Cas9 available in Q4 2018.