Editas Medicine Announces Favorable Decision From US PTO in CRISPR Patent Interference

Editas Medicine, Inc. recently announced the USPTO issued another favorable decision to the Broad Institute, Inc. (Broad) involving specific patents for CRISPR/Cas9 editing in human cells. Pending an appeal to the Federal Circuit, this decision ends the US patent interference between the University of California, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, CVC) and Broad.

This action by the USPTO is the second favorable decision determining Broad as the first group to invent the use of CRISPR/Cas9 for editing DNA in those cells necessary for making gene editing medicines for people. With this decision, the USPTO has clearly determined that CVC was not the first to invent using CRISPR/Cas9 in eukaryotic cells, including human cells, and that CVC is not entitled to patent claims directed to that subject matter. The patents at issue in the current interference are owned by Broad and exclusively licensed to Editas Medicine for the development of medicines for people living with serious diseases.

“While scientists in both groups made important scientific contributions to the field, this proceeding was to determine who invented the use of CRISPR/Cas9 for editing the DNA in eukaryotic cells, including human cells. We are pleased with the US PTO’s decision, ending the interference, and determining the Broad Institute’s innovative work to discover and use the CRISPR/Cas9 technology in human cells,” said James C. Mullen, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Editas Medicine. “The decision reaffirms the strength of our foundational intellectual property as we continue our work to develop life-changing medicines for people living with serious diseases. We are using this revolutionary technology to develop medicines, including our lead program EDIT-101 for the treatment of LCA10.”

Editas Medicine’s foundational intellectual property includes issued patents covering fundamental aspects of both CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a gene editing. Editas Medicine’s patents broadly cover CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a gene editing in all human cells. Successfully editing this cell type is essential to making CRISPR-based medicines. Overall, the company holds a wide range of fundamental intellectual property directed to all the components of its genome editing platform as well as product-enabling and product-specific intellectual property. Patents covering the use of CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a for gene editing of human cells have issued in the US, Australia, Europe, Japan, China, and other jurisdictions.

As a leading genome editing company, Editas Medicine is focused on translating the power and potential of the CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a genome editing systems into a robust pipeline of treatments for people living with serious diseases around the world. Editas Medicine aims to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize transformative, durable, precision genomic medicines for a broad class of diseases. For more information, visit www.editasmedicine.com.