Novartis has signed collaboration and licensing agreements with Intellia Therapeutics for the discovery and development of new medicines using CRISPR genome editing technology and Caribou Biosciences for the development of drug discovery tools. Intellia and Caribou are two biotechnology companies developing this technology.

CRISPR, an acronym that stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, is an approach that allows scientists to edit the genes of targeted cells and it is used to develop very specific models of disease for use in drug discovery. It potential for use as a therapeutic modality for treating disease at the genetic level by deleting, repairing, or replacing the genes that cause disease.

The alliance with Intellia combines the resources, research expertise, and cell and gene therapy expertise at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research with Intellia’s CRISPR expertise and organization. Research and development activities will focus on using CRISPR ex vivo for engineering chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CARTs) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The collaboration and licensing agreement with Caribou is focused on using Caribou’s foundational CRISPR platform and intellectual property as a research tool for drug discovery.

Under the terms of the agreement with Intellia, Novartis is receiving exclusive rights to develop all collaboration programs focused on engineered CARTs and the right to develop an undisclosed number of targets for ex vivo editing of HSCs. In addition, Novartis receives non-exclusive rights for limited in vivo therapeutic applications of CRISPR systems. Novartis is increasing its equity investment in Intellia, is making an upfront payment, and will provide technology access fees and funding for R&D programs during the five-year term of the collaboration. Intellia is also eligible to receive downstream success-based milestones and royalties. Under the terms of the agreement with Caribou, 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. Novartis is also making an equity investment in the company.

Source: Novartis