Biocitech, France, February 21st, 2008 - Cellectis SA announced today that the European patent EP 419 621 (on a gene targeting process involving homologous recombination) has been maintained following a hearing before the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office on January 23rd, 2008.
“This decision reinforces our patent portfolio, demonstrates the latter’s solidity and strengthens our position in the US, European and Japanese markets, where a growing number of players are seeking engineered cells and animals for their development activities”, commented David Sourdive, VP Corporate Development at Cellectis.
Likewise, the US patents (6 528 313, 6 638 768 & 6 528 314), Japanese patents (3059481, 3298842 & 3298864) and European patents (419 621 & 682 112) granted to Institut Pasteur have been maintained, despite the numerous oppositions lodged by Cellectis’ competitors. Cellectis holds the exclusive rights to these patents, which cover all DNA integration processes, whether via: - insertion of regulatory sequences that can modify the expression of an endogenous gene. - insertion of coding sequences so as to place the desired protein in a defined recipient genomic location (whether active or not), in order to obtain a full and functional recombinant gene via the natural process of homologous recombination.
“A major strength of our patent portfolio is that it enables the substitution of a mouse gene by a reporter gene or by its human counterpart - a process referred to as ‘humanization’ ”, added David Sourdive. Humanized mice generated from the learnings obtained from Institut Pasteur patents are being used throughout the pharmaceutical industry to validate drug targets, test the efficacy and safety of monoclonal antibodies and develop high-affinity therapeutic antibodies. Global companies such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, Merck & Co, Pfizer, Shire, Deltagen, Lexicon, Regeneron and TransGenic (among others) are using these technologies and have obtained sub-licenses from Cellectis.
In fact, the underlying invention (generated from research at the Institut Pasteur) is one of gene “knock-in” or gene activation (i.e. the insertion, at a precise genomic location, of a foreign functional element) and has given rise to a huge boom in genetic engineering. For example, “knock-in” of a LacZ reporter gene is recognized as the standard for gene targeting by the prestigious US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Knock-Out Mouse Project (KOMP).
About Cellectis Cellectis SA (www.cellectis.com) is a world-leading company in genome engineering and genome surgery. The company is focused on developing and producing custom meganucleases for in vivo DNA surgery and also provides new tools for rational reverse genetics and targeted recombination. Cellectis’ products induce unique, site-directed, double-strand DNA breaks in living cell and can be used in a wide range of biotechnological and therapeutic applications. A strong Patent portfolio Cellectis holds a 148 patent and patent application portfolio providing the company with a strong position in the field of homologous recombination (3 issued US patents) and meganucleases and uses thereof (18 issued US patents) both naturally-occurring and with engineered specificity. A significant part of this portfolio has been exclusively licensed by Institut Pasteur, which spun off the company in 2000.
Institut Pasteur has a long history in the exploitation of methods of homologous recombination with groups pioneering the field, a major scientific breakthrough (Nobel Prize 2007) and is today the assignee of cornerstone patents from the late 80’s in this field. Finally the team, which discovered meganucleases and published founding works on the I-SceI homing endonucleases leading to the constitution of Cellectis proprietary patent portfolio of the company is from Institut Pasteur.
A strong scientific background Teams involved in the discovery of meganucleases at Institut Pasteur and Cellectis have published tens of founding publications in prestigious peer-review papers such as Cell, Nature, Science, PNAS, JBC or JMB. For the sole 2007 has Cellectis published 5 important scientific publications in peer-review journals and 2 papers since the beginning of 2008.
A technology that delivers Cellectis currently holds an incremental pipeline of 18 meganucleases with modified specificity deriving from the I-CreI meganuclease having applications in:
- Therapeutics - major indications are severe inborn genetic diseases, DNA virus infectious diseases, transplantation and Cancer - Agricultural biotechnology - major targets are crops improvement, biofuels and biofibers - BioProduction - major indications are cell line and recombinant proteins improvement - BioTools - major indication is research kits development for pharmacogenomic studies and in particular drug screening
A partner oriented strategy The company has formed 48 industrial partnerships with pharmaceutical laboratories (Astra-Zeneca, GSK, Shire), agricultural biotechnology groups (Limagrain, Bayer, BASF, DuPont-Pioneer HiBred) and biotech companies (Genentech, Transgenics, Lexicon). Cellectis contributes to over 20 academic partnerships including Institut Gustave Roussy cancer research centre, Paris Children Hospital (France), Boston Children Hospital or Harvard Gene Therapy Initiative (USA).
Financing The company raised above ??24m in an IPO on NYSE-Euronext Alternext (February 2007) to increase its meganucleases production capacity to 20 products a year by the end of 2008. To date the company has raised over ??40m both in private and public rounds. Cellectis is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market (ticker code: ALCLS). For more information on Cellectis, visit our web site: www.cellectis.com.
