University of California files appeal over CRISPR patents

The University of California (UC) is appealing a US patent ruling over the game-changing gene editing technology known as CRISPR that favoured the Broad Institute, a research affiliate of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The appeal filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was announced on Thursday by the UC, the University of Vienna and handful of startup companies that have licensed its patents.

Microbiologists Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier of the University of Vienna were first to apply for patent in 2012 after discovering how the primitive bacterial system called CRISPR-Cas9 could be used to edit genomes in simple pieces of DNA called plasmids.

Genomic editing is no longer science fiction. With great power comes great responsibility.https://t.co/PxyNocnKEr

— Alyssa Basdavanos (@alyssabasda) April 13, 2017

The system works like a pair of molecular scissors, cutting out and replacing specific parts of a cell’s DNA. Scientists hail CRISPR‘s potential for treating genetic diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia.

A team at the Broad Institute led by bioengineer Feng Zhang applied for a separate patent six months later, but paid for a fast-track review process, which landed them the first CRISPR patent in 2014. The Broad’s patents were for showing the CRISPR system could be used to edit more advanced, eukaryotic cells, including animal and human cells.

In its February decision, an appeals board of the US Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, determined that the Broad’s CRISPR patents “did not interfere” with those awarded to the UC because they were sufficiently different, allowing them to stand.

In the appeal, the UC is seeking a reversal of the decision, which ended before actually determining who invented the use of CRISPR in eukaryotic cells. Major commercial applications of CRISPR are expected to be in eukaryotic cells.

A human patient was just treated with CRISPR gene editing for the first time https://t.co/A3fNQua1i2 pic.twitter.com/SautCW2smq

— Popular Science (@PopSci) April 10, 2017

CRISPR Therapeutics Intellia Therapeutics and Caribou Biosciences are all parties to the appeal.

The Broad said in a statement it was confident the appeals court would affirm the ruling and “recognise the contribution of the Broad, MIT and Harvard in developing this transformative technology.”

UC, meanwhile, has won a patent in the United Kingdom while the European Patent office is expected to award another by May 10.

Earlier this week, Harvard geneticist George Church said he expected the disputes would end in cross-licensing.

“I’m not that interested in the details of who pays who what. We’re all going to do very well, including the patients. That was evident from the very beginning,” he said. – Reuters

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