NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Caribou Biosciences today announced it has granted Integrated DNA Technologies the rights to commercialize CRISPR/Cas9 reagents.
Under the terms of the non-exclusive license agreement, IDT has worldwide rights to sell CRISPR/Cas9 reagents for research use only.
Financial and other details were not disclosed
"IDT is excited to be the first genomics company to have reached this agreement with Caribou," IDT President and CEO Joseph Walder said in a statement. "This license allows us to deliver the entire spectrum of products for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, solidifying our position at the forefront of this groundbreaking technology." IDT currently offers the Alt-R CRISPR/Cas9 System for genome editing, which provides RNA reagents featuring shortened, synthetic RNA oligonucleotides that don't activate innate cellular immune responses.
Caribou's CRISPR-related intellectual property comes from several sources. The University of California has exclusively licensed to the firm patent rights associated with UC-Berkeley Professor and Caribou Co-founder Jennifer Doudna. Caribou has also cross-licensed CRISPR IP with DuPont Pioneer.
The University of California is the senior party in an upcoming interference proceeding to settle certain claims in battle over a foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patent; the Broad Institute is the junior party.
Caribou has licensed CRISPR IP to several companies including Sage Labs, acquired in 2014 by Horizon Discovery, to create genetically engineered research animals, and to pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which has an option to non-exclusively license the CRISPR/Cas9 platform for research applications.