UC strengthens CRISPR IP position with new patent

The USPTO issued a third patent covering fundamental aspects of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology to The Regents of the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, strengthening the group's patent position in the highly complex IP landscape.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent No. 10,227,610, which describes use of CRISPR-Cas9 with a single molecule RNA guide plus Cas9 to make targeted DNA edits, specifically inside a cell. The claims are applicable to any cell type.

The latest patent issuance comes just over a month after the USPTO issued a notice of allowance for the University of California group's foundational CRISPR-Cas9 patent application, No. 13/842,859, which was the subject of an interference proceeding with a Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard patent. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision that the Broad Institute's patent does not interfere with the UC group's patent, and that the two were separately patentable (see "USPTO to Grant UC Foundational CRISPR Patent").

The UC group said it expects 13/842,859 to issue within the next several weeks. The '610 patent was not involved in the interference.

The UC group has had two other U.S. patents issued. Patent No. 10,000,772 covers RNA guides 10-15 nucleotides in length to edit DNA in eukaryotic cells, and Patent No.10,113,167 covers protein/RNA compositions that can be used to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 into cells.

Caribou Biosciences Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.), Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA) and CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) each have licenses or sub-licenses to CRISPR-related IP from the UC group.