NEW YORK – ERS Genomics said on Monday that is has signed a licensing agreement with Japan-based Daiichi Sankyo providing the pharmaceutical company with access to ERS's CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology intellectual property.
Dublin-based ERS Genomics was founded to provide access to CRISPR-Cas9 intellectual property held by Emmanuelle Charpentier. This CRISPR IP is shared between her, Jennifer Doudna and the University of California, and the University of Vienna, and is separate from genome editing patents held by the Broad Institute.
Under the terms of the license, Daiichi Sankyo will be allowed to use the CRISPR technology to support its own R&D initiatives to address areas of unmet medical need.
Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.
"Daiichi Sankyo is our first large pharma licensee in Japan," ERS CEO Eric Rhodes said in a statement. "CRISPR-Cas9 is revolutionary in genome editing; we look forward to observing how the company applies the technology to further advance its R&D operations."
This is the second licensing deal ERS has signed so far in 2020 — on Jan. 7 the company signed an agreement with New England Biolabs granting NEB the rights to sell CRISPR-Cas9 tools and reagents from the ERS CRISPR IP portfolio.