Caribou Biosciences and IDT Enter into Non-Exclusive License Agreement for CRISPR-Cas9 Reagents

Caribou Biosciences, a developer of CRISPR technologies for precision cell engineering, and Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), a producer of custom synthetic oligonucleotide-based technologies for genomics applications, have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement under which Caribou has granted IDT worldwide rights to commercialize CRISPR/Cas9 reagents under Caribou’s intellectual property. The license is subject to a research use limited label. Researchers conducting biological research across scientific areas such as drug discovery, plant biology, and genomics will use IDT’s CRISPR/Cas9 reagents.

CRISPR/Cas9 is used for gene editing and plays a part in adaptive acquired immunity in bacteria. The technology is being investigated for its application in human cells. Researchers can use this technology to find and alter DNA targets by using the cell’s DNA-repair apparatus to silence or activate specific genes.

According to a press announcement, Caribou Biosciences entered into a similar agreement with Novartis in January 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis is receiving non-exclusive rights to Caribou’s CRISPR platform for research conducted during the collaboration and is providing funding for the one-year research program.