UC Regents get CRISPR guide RNA patent in U.S.

The U.S. Patent Office on June 19 granted a patent related to CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to the Regents of the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier covering use of guide RNA formats. The patent is the first related to CRISPR gene editing issued in the U.S. to the UC Regents group.

U.S. Patent No. 10,000,772 covers guide RNAs 10 to 15 base pairs long that are used to direct the CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) nuclease to the target DNA in eukaryotic cells. The patent applies to guide RNAs widely used in the industry and is included in IP that is licensed or sublicensed to Caribou Biosciences Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.), CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP), Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA) and ERS Genomics Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland)...