Merck Licenses Foundational CRISPR Integration Technology to Promega

Darmstadt, Germany, December 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A leading technology companyMerck(Merck) announced today that the company has signed a licensing agreement with the global life sciences manufacturer headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, USAPromega Corp.(Promega Corporation), able to utilize its foundational CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) intellectual property. Promega will leverage Merck’s CRISPR genome editing technology to create research products and services, including those applicable to drug development.

Ulf Böttinger, Member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO of the Life Science Business Sector (Udit Batra) stated: “Under this license agreement, Promega plans to leverage our intellectual property to develop CRISPR-edited cell lines, which can play a critical role in determining drug efficacy, toxicity, and overall development.”

This protocol will enable researchers to better read the physiological/natural levels of protein expression, which can support a more accurate understanding of protein behavior.

Bill Linton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Promega (Bill Linton) stated, “This authorization further expands the potential of CRISPR and, more importantly, provides scientists with new insights into natural cellular activity. This represents a significant contribution to numerous applied research fields, such as cancer research and neuroscience.”

In addition to fulfilling specialized requests for studying protein dynamics, Promega is now building a portfolio of CRISPR gene knock-in cell lines.

Merck intends to continue expanding its CRISPR intellectual property portfolio with technologies such as paired Cas9 nickases, which can reduce off-target effects and serve as alternative CRISPR gene-editing tools, thereby providing researchers with more experimental options and helping to accelerate drug development and the availability of new therapies.

Merck holds 22 CRISPR-related patents worldwide covering methods and components, including the foundational use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genetic integration in mammalian cells.

As a user and supplier of genome editing technologies, Merck supports research in genome editing conducted with careful consideration of ethical and legal standards. The company has established an independent externalBioethics Advisory Panel, primarily to provide guidance for research involving its business activities, including the study or use of genome editing. Furthermore, Merck has clarified the use ofScope, providing relevant information on how to use this technology to research and apply promising therapeutic approaches.