Evotec licenses CRISPR gene editing tech

By Melissa Fassbender

- Last updated on GMT

CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for gene editing that is faster and more precise than traditional options. (Image: iStock)
CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for gene editing that is faster and more precise than traditional options. (Image: iStock)

Related tags Gene editing License

Evotec AG has entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with the MIT’s Broad Institute and Harvard for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology.

Per the agreement, Evotec gains access to intellectual property (IP) related to CRISPR-Cas9. The company will use the technology to further its drug discovery offerings and R&D activities.

Specifically, Evotec said it will use CRISPR-Cas9 to develop research tools and identify targets to strengthen its post phenotypical screening target deconvolution platform.

As BioPharma-Reporter.com previously reported​, CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for gene editing that is faster and more precise than traditional options. Interest in the technology has grown over the past two years with significant investments​ from Big Biopharma.

Several other entities​ have already established licensing agreements for the gene-editing technology, including Bayer​, which announced the agreement in May of this year. The agreement was part of investment by the Bayer LifeScience Center (BLSC), a new R&D unit of the company focusing on developing breakthroughs by creating novel platforms.

British life science entrepreneur and investor, Jim Mellon, previously told us​ that the future of the technology lies in developing therapies to treat orphan diseases.

There are 7,000 orphan diseases and some huge companies have been built on these – Alexion and Shire for example – and if we could actually eliminate these then the industry will be doing a great service for mankind​,” he said.

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