Excision licenses new CRISPR IP

Excision BioTherapeutics Inc. (Philadelphia, Pa.) obtained exclusive licenses to IP from University of California Berkeley covering new CRISPR-based gene editing technologies. The licenses include the use of CRISPR systems using CasX, CasY and ARMAN endonucleases to treat viral infectious diseases. Excision also has rights to sub-license the gene editors.

In a paper published in Nature in February, Berkeley researchers led by Jillian Banfield and Jennifer Doudna identified the CRISPR-Cas systems in uncultivated microbes, including CasX and CasY in bacteria and a Cas9-type protein in ARMAN archaea. Excision President and CEO Thomas Malcolm told BioCentury the alternatives to Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) offer new possibilities that expand the gene editing arsenal. The enzymes are smaller than Cas9, making them easier to package in delivery vehicles, and have different protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) recognition sequences and target sequences, potentially allowing them to target different genes...