BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GenEdit, Inc., a developer of a novel polymer nanoparticle technology platform for non-viral- and non-lipid-based delivery of gene therapies, today announced that it has entered into a worldwide, exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc., a leading genome editing company. GenEdit has developed a comprehensive delivery system for CRISPR-based therapeutics, including gene knockout and gene repair therapies, to enable safer delivery options with improved efficiency.

"This license and collaboration agreement further validates the strength of our intellectual property portfolio and the potential of GenEdits technology," said Kunwoo Lee, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of GenEdit. "We are pleased to establish our relationship with Editas Medicine as they leverage our technology to develop potential genomic medicines."

Under the terms of the agreement, GenEdit has granted Editas Medicine an exclusive worldwide license, with rights to sublicense, to GenEdits Cpf1-based technologies. In return for these rights, GenEdit will receive undisclosed upfront and development milestone payments, including royalties on net sales of products incorporating the licensed intellectual property. In addition, GenEdit and Editas Medicine will collaborate on evaluating delivery of Cpf1-based technologies with GenEdits nanoparticle platform. Editas Medicine will provide research funding and have an option to continue development after the initial collaboration period.

GenEdits nanoparticle platform consists of a proprietary non-viral, non-lipid library of polymers that efficiently encapsulate and deliver cargo [RNA, DNA, protein and/or ribonucleic acid-protein complexes (RNP)] to specific tissues. The company screens the library to identify initial hits and then uses computational analysis and medicinal chemistry for iterative lead optimization. The company has used this platform to identify multiple candidate polymers for efficient and specific delivery of gene editing to a range of tissues.

"Compared to viral vectors and lipid-based nanoparticles, our approach has the potential for better targeting, more cargo, and lower manufacturing cost," said Timothy Fong, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of GenEdit. "In particular, our approach has the potential to enable in vivo gene editing of multiple tissues with CRISPR and expand the potential of gene therapies to treat more diverse sets of diseases."

About GenEdit

GenEdit was founded to transform the delivery of gene and gene editing therapies. We have synthesized the NanoGalaxy library of polymers that can encapsulate RNA, DNA, protein and/or RNP. Through advanced screening methods, computational analysis and iterative medicinal chemistry, we have demonstrated efficient delivery of gene editing cargo to specific tissues. We seek development partnerships for specific tissues and/or gene targets while advancing our internal pipeline of gene editing therapies.

For more information, please visit http://www.genedit.com.

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GenEdit and Editas Medicine Enter into Exclusive License and Collaboration Agreement for Nanoparticle Gene Therapy Delivery - Business Wire