NEW YORK – ERS Genomics, a vessel for intellectual property held by CRISPR pioneer Emmanuelle Charpentier, announced Tuesday a licensing deal with Applied StemCell.
Under the agreement, Milpitas, California-based Applied StemCell will commercialize CRISPR gene editing services and reagents.
"Applied StemCell has been a leading stem cell company … for many years," ERS Genomics CEO Eric Rhodes said in a statement. "It is exciting to see their expertise in cell and animal models being combined with the power of CRISPR gene editing."
Applied StemCell offers preclinical research services including cell and animal model generation, antibody discovery, and preclinical assay services to support cell and gene product development.
The deal comes just after the US Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled that Charpentier, along with the University of California and the University of Vienna (collectively CVC), will have the burden of proving inventorship of the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells in the ongoing legal battle over CRISPR IP.
In a statement, Rhodes noted that the PTAB has allowed the patent interference proceedings to continue and said the decision does not affect any of Charpentier's US-issued patents.
"We remain convinced that the descriptions provided in the Charpentier and [Jennifer] Doudna publications were the key guidance that led over ten groups to simultaneously and independently achieve rapid success in eukaryotes," Rhodes said. "This view appears to be shared outside the US with CVC maintaining a dominant patent position in Europe, Japan, China, and elsewhere."