BioCentury
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Broad to be awarded EU CRISPR-Cpf1 patent

February 28, 2017 12:41 AM UTC

The European Patent Office intends to grant a patent to The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard covering CRISPR from Prevotella and Francisella 1 (Cpf1) endonuclease gene editing technology. The platform was developed by CRISPR-Cas9 pioneer Feng Zhang and uses an enzyme that is smaller than Cas9, making it easier to package in delivery vehicles. It also has the potential to target different genes than Cas9, and could be more efficient (see BioCentury Innovations, Oct. 29, 2015).

Broad said it also has a pending U.S. patent application for the CRISPR-Cpf1 technology, which falls outside of the scope of the CRISP-Cas9 patent dispute. Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board terminated an interference proceeding between Broad and the Reagents of the University of California, which could have blocked the patent held by Broad (see BioCentury Extra, Feb. 15)...