Cellectis Wins Patent Challenge in Europe for a Method Using CRISPR-Cas9 for Gene Editing in T-Cells

European Patent EP3004337 Upheld by the EPO in Favor of Cellectis, Refers to the Method of Preparing T-Cells for Immunotherapy Using the RNA-Guided CRISPR-Cas9 Nuclease System

Cellectis (Euronext Growth: ALCLS; Nasdaq: CLLS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies based on gene-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells (UCART), today announced that European Patent EP3004337, which claims a method of preparing T-cells for immunotherapy using the CRISPR-Cas9 system, initially granted on August 2, 2017, has been upheld by the European Patent Office (EPO) following an opposition procedure initiated in May 2018.

European Patent EP3004337 claims a method of genetically modifying T-cells by introduction into the cells and/or expression in the cells of an RNA-guided endonuclease, and a specific guide RNA that directs an endonuclease to at least one targeted locus in the T-cell genome, where it is expressed from transfected mRNA and guide RNA is expressed in the cells as a transcript from a DNA vector. The patent also covers the expansion phase of the resulting cells in vitro.

The inventors of this patent are Dr. André Choulika, Chairman and CEO, Cellectis, Dr. Philippe Duchateau, Chief Scientific Officer, Cellectis and Dr. Laurent Poirot, VP, Immunology Department, Cellectis.

To date, the upheld patent has a validity period extended to 2034.

Source - https://www.cellectis.com/en/press/cellectis-wins-patent-challenge-in-europe-for-a-method-using-crispr-cas9-for-gene-editing-in-t-cells/