Editas Medicine Announces U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Decision Favorable to Broad Institute in CRISPR Interference

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 15, 2017 -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a favorable decision in the CRISPR interference between the University of California, the University of Vienna, Emmanuelle Charpentier and the Broad Institute, Inc. (Broad) regarding certain CRISPR-Cas9 patents the Company exclusively licenses from Broad. The USPTO granted Broad’s Motion for No Interference in Fact, ending the interference before the USPTO.

“We are pleased with the USPTO’s decision of ‘no interference in fact’ for the patents that have been granted to the Broad Institute for their innovative and fundamental work on CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing,” said Katrine Bosley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Editas Medicine. “This important decision affirms the inventiveness of the Broad’s work in translating the biology of the natural world into fundamental building blocks to create unprecedented medicines. At Editas Medicine, we are continuing to invest in this technology to build our business for the long-term and to create genome editing therapies for patients suffering from genetically-defined and genetically-treatable diseases.” 

About Editas Medicine
Editas Medicine is a leading genome editing company dedicated to treating patients with genetically-defined diseases by correcting their disease-causing genes.  The Company was founded by world leaders in genome editing, and its mission is to translate the promise of genome editing science into a broad class of transformative genomic medicines to benefit the greatest number of patients.

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Media Contact
Dan Budwick
Pure Communications, Inc.
(973) 271-6085
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Investor Contact
Mark Mullikin
Editas Medicine, Inc.
(617) 401-9083
[email protected]