Merck gets CRISPR in Japan and Singapore

 

        Merck, a leading technology firm, announced today that both Japanundefineds Patent Office and Singaporeundefineds Intellectual Property Office have approved the companyundefineds patent application for paired CRISPR notch enzymes, bringing Merckundefineds number of related patents worldwide to 22.

 

       Udit Batra, a member of Merckundefineds executive committee and chief executive of the Department of Life Sciences Operations, said:" Paired notch enzymes represent an important step in improving specificity by reducing miss-targeting effects in gene editing in highly flexible and effective ways. Merckundefineds technology improves the ability of CRISPR to repair diseased genes without affecting healthy genes, thereby improving the accuracy of potential gene therapy."

 

        These patents relate to the underlying crispr strategy, i.e., two crispr notch enzymes targeting common gene targets that cooperate with each other by cutting opposing chains of chromosome sequences in order to cause double-strand breaks. this process may contain insertion of exogenous or donor sequences in the same way as merck ’ s crispr patent integration technique. the requirements for two crispr binding activities significantly reduced the likelihood of miss-targeting in other locations in the genome.

        In addition to Japan and Singapore, Merck has CRISPR-related patents in the following regions: Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Israel, South Korea and the United States. The company secured its first underlying patent in Australia in 2017 involving CRISPR integration and its first US CRISPR patent on proxy-CRISPR in 2019. Merck has been at the forefront of innovation for 15 years, with rich experience from discovery to manufacturing. As a user and supplier of genome editing technology, merck supports research on genome editing, given careful consideration of ethical and legal standards.

       

the company has formed an independent panel of external bioethics consultants that primarily provides guidance for the research involved in its business, including the research or use of genome editors. In addition, Merck has defined the scope of use for scientific and social considerations, providing information on how to use the technology to research and apply promising treatments.

      All of Merckundefineds press releases will be emailed as they are posted on Merckundefineds website. Please visit www.merckgroup.com/subscript for online registration, change options or stop this service.