Agreement takes Gene Editing to Japanese Pharma

A licensing agreement between Daiichi Sankyo and ERS Genomics provides the Japanese pharmaceutical company with access to foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property co-owned by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, for use in its internal research and development to address areas of unmet medical need.

Eric Rhodes, CEO of ERS Genomics, said: “Daiichi Sankyo is our first large pharma licensee in Japan. 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.”

The Dublin-based company holds an exclusive worldwide license to the foundational intellectual property covering CRISPR/Cas9 for all applications other than use as a human therapeutic.