The CRISPR patent fight pits Broad against Berkeley, with three biotechs in the middle
The dispute over who owns the rights to CRISPR is headed to court and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office prepares to weigh in, beginning a process that could last months.
The team of Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley and Emmanuelle Charpentier of Umeå University in Sweden filed a CRISPR patent 6 months before Feng Zhang, a professor at the Broad Institute and MIT, did. But Zhang’s application covers the editing of DNA in animals while Doudna’s only covers chopping up DNA in test tubes.
Three biotech companies, all working on gene editing projects for rare diseases, are caught in the middle. 1.) Editas Medicine, which has an exclusive license to Zhang’s intellectual property, 2.) CRISPR Therapeutics, which is working with Charpentier, and 3.) Intellia Therapeutics, which was co-founded by Doudna. The outcome of the patent dispute could force losing parties to pay.
