Licencing agreement adds to growing use of CRISPR technology

Drug discovery company IRBM (Rome) has signed a non-exclusive agreement granting access to ERS Genomics’ CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio. The Italian CRO offers expertise ranging from target validation and hit finding to preclinical candidate nomination across various therapeutic areas, including oncology, infectious diseases and neuroscience. The company has contributed to the discovery and development of four marketed therapeutics for HIV, HCV, ovarian cancer and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Carlo Toniatti, MD, PhD, CSO, IRBM, said: “We are committed to delivering high quality drugs by leveraging our broad range of expertise and capabilities across the entire preclinical drug discovery continuum. With the integration of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology we are increasing our capability to identify and validate potential drug targets, to generate more predictive pre-clinical models and to elucidate the mechanisms of action of novel therapeutics.”

John E Milad, CEO, of Dublin-based ERS Genomics, commented: “We are committed to supporting cutting-edge research and expanding the horizons of medical innovation by providing companies such as IRBM with the ability to take advantage of CRISPR/Cas9 technology. We look forward to seeing the innovative ways in which our gene editing technology will be utilised in various stages of drug discovery, providing candidates for a wide range of therapeutic areas.”

ERS Genomics provides licensing to CRISPR/Cas9 technology for all cells, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells such as mammalian cells, bacteria, archaea, yeasts, algae, and insects, through its direct licence from Emmanuelle Charpentier and now has nearly 150 licenses in place worldwide.

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