MilliporeSigma and genOway enter CRISPR collaboration
As per the agreement – financial details of which were not disclosed – the France-based research model developer GenOway will license MilliporeSigma’s CRISPR integration patents to develop new models that enable scientists to use CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology.
Additionally, GenOway will develop a network of sublicensees in model creation and distribution businesses. It also will It also will sublicense the technology for preclinical services.
The long-term research collaboration aims to develop new research tools, models, and platforms to expand MilliporeSigma’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio.
A spokesperson for MilliporeSigma told us that the alliance with genOway will enable the company to offer “custom world-class” animal models and services for both the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
“These models are critical components in identifying and studying physiologic and cellular targets and pathways for research and therapeutics,” the spokesperson explained. The disease models established per this collaboration can be used to study disease progression and pathway regulation.
Development of these models can shorten the time the industry spends testing safety and efficacy before moving to human clinical trials, the spokesperson said
Recently, Ncardia and Horizon Discovery entered a similar collaboration in which the companies used genetically-modified and differentiated human cells for drug discovery and preclinical models.
At the time Stefan Braam, CEO of Ncardia explained that drug delivery and development relies on pre-clinical model systems and that late-stage drug failures can be attributed to a lack of predictive pre-clinical models.
