Merck CRISPR Gene-editing Technology Receives US Patent

Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted the company’s patent for CRISPR-chrom technology. With this allowance, Merck is the only provider with a patent covering the fusion of chromatin modulating peptides to CRISPR proteins, helping to clear chromatin out of the way, increasing access to the genome.“This award marks our second US CRISPR patent and our 23rd CRISPR-related patent worldwide, and as a leading innovator of CRISPR technology, we will continue to drive innovation and collaborate with scientists around the world to ensure that they have the most advanced gene-editing options,” said Udit Batra, member of the Merck executive board and CEO, Life Science.Because genomic DNA in mammalian cells is wrapped tightly in protein complexes called chromatin, the genomic DNA is often inaccessible to CRISPR. Merck’s CRISPR-chrom technology works by fusing chromatin modulating peptides to a CRISPR protein, Cas9 (i.e., CRISPR’s DNA scissors), allowing for more efficient gene editing.Merck’s CRISPR patent portfolio includes granted patents for CRISPR-related technologies covering foundational and alternative genome-editing methods. Patents for the company’s CRISPR integration technology have been granted in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Israel, Singapore and South Korea. Patents granted in Europe and pending elsewhere cover plasmid or viral vectors encoding CRISPR systems, which are necessary to perform genome modification in eukaryotic cells. Other European patents and pending applications are for protein-RNA nickase compositions.Merck received its first US patent in February 2019 for its proxy-CRISPR technology, which makes CRISPR more efficient, flexible and specific. The company has successfully out-licensed its CRISPR patent portfolio and continues to license its entire CRISPR patent portfolio for all fields of use. Merck is proactively and aggressively pursuing CRISPR patent out-licensing partners for therapeutics, agriculture and research and welcomes such collaboration opportunities.CRISPR technology is a core competency for Merck, which has 16 years’ experience with genome editing, spanning from discovery to manufacturing. The company develops technologies in a range of genome-editing applications, including gene knockout, gene integration and CRISPR libraries for genetic screens, among others

Optimize Your trial insights with Clival Database.

Are you exhausted from the uncertainty of trial insights pricing? Clival Database ensures the clarity in the midst of the global scenario for clinical trials to you.

Clival Database is one of the best databases that offers an outstanding number of clinical trial data in terms of 50,000+ molecules and from primary regulatory markets as well as new entrants like Indian and Chinese markets.

With Clival, you get accurate positioning of historical sales data, patent database, company profiling, safety & efficacy, and prediction of launch of new innovative molecules helping you to align your research and driving down the cost.

To add value, we further break down our analytics for you so that improving your operational effectiveness; optimizing your clinical trials; and offering you accurate and high-quality data at lowest possible prices becomes possible.

Elevate your trial success rate with the cutting-edge insights from Clival database.

Check it out today and make more informed sourcing decisions! Learn More!