NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Thermo Fisher Scientific has licensed intellectual property surrounding CRISPR technologies from the Broad Institute and ERS Genomics, the company said today.
Under the terms of the agreements, Thermo Fisher obtains global non-exclusive rights to products, tools, and research services involving the technologies. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
"These licenses expand our industry-leading genome editing capabilities and demonstrate our continued commitment to enabling our customers to unleash the technology's full potential in their research programs," Helge Bastian, vice president and general manager of synthetic biology at Thermo Fisher, said in a statement.
Thermo Fisher already holds licenses to other genome editing technologies. In 2015, for example, it licensed intellectual property around CRISPR-Cas9 from South Korean biotechnology company ToolGen. It also holds exclusive rights to IP for the Tal Effector Nuclease (TALEN) technology, which complements CRISPR.
"The combination of CRISPR and TALEN technologies provides a complete genome editing toolbox that moves researchers closer to the promise of delivering on the potential of synthetic biology," said Jon Chesnut, Thermo Fisher's senior director of R&D for synthetic biology, in the same statement.
ERS Genomics, based in Ireland, was founded to provide access to foundational CRISPR-Cas9 IP held by Emmanuelle Charpentier. This CRISPR IP is also held by Jennifer Doudna and the University of California, and is separate from genome editing patents held by the Broad.