Editas Medicine wins CRISPR patent ruling from USPTO

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has reaffirmed its decision favoring the Broad Institute in a patent interference case involving CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology for human cells. The ruling benefits Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT), which holds exclusive licenses to the disputed patents.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's decision marks the third time it has determined that the Broad Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University were first to invent CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in eukaryotic cells. The case was on remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit following a May 2025 decision.

The interference involved patents disputed between the University of California, University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier against the Broad Institute group. The losing parties retain the right to appeal the decision to the federal appeals court.

"We are pleased with decision reaffirming Broad's inventorship priority for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing," said Gilmore O'Neill, president and chief executive officer of Editas Medicine.

Editas Medicine holds exclusive licenses to the CRISPR/Cas9 patents at issue for developing and commercializing medicines. The company also maintains licenses to other CRISPR patents from the Broad Institute and collaborating institutions that were not part of this interference proceeding.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company reported that its experimental therapy EDIT-401 achieved greater than 90 percent mean LDL cholesterol reduction in non-human primate studies. Editas Medicine focuses on developing gene editing treatments for serious diseases.

The company's intellectual property portfolio includes issued patents covering CRISPR/Cas12a and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in human cells across multiple jurisdictions including the United States, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China.

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