CRISPR Therapeutics licenses cell engineering platform from MaxCyte

The commercial license builds on an existing research and clinical licensing agreement for select disease areas.

Under the terms of the license, Crispr Therapeutics and Casebia will obtain non-exclusive commercial-use rights to MaxCyte’s cell engineering platform to develop Crispr/Cas9-based therapies for hemoglobin-related diseases and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).

MaxCyte will supply its systems to Crispr Therapeutics and Casebia as part of the license agreement and will receive upfront, milestone, and sales-based payments.

Crispr Therapeutics chief business officer Samarth Kulkarni said: “As we advance Crispr Therapeutics’ lead programs in hemoglobinopathies to the clinic, it is important we prepare for the future by securing our access to the leading ex vivo delivery solution for both clinical and commercial use.”

MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation Technology enables the transfection of a variety of cell types at very high efficiency while maintaining very high viability. Crispr Therapeutics and Casebia’s lead programs rely on ex vivo gene editing, where the Crispr components are delivered to hematopoietic stem cells using the MaxCyte technology.

Casebia president and CEO Jim Burns said: “With Casebia and Crispr Therapeutics working closely together, we hope to make bold investments and accelerate our efforts to access and acquire all the leading platform technologies necessary to develop and commercialize Crispr-based therapeutics.”

MaxCyte president & CEO Doug Doerfler said: “The initiation of this commercial license agreement with Crispr Therapeutics and Casebia, both leaders in gene editing, marks a very important milestone for MaxCyte and demonstrates the value of our platform and our intellectual property, as well as our ability to collaborate effectively with companies commercializing cell therapies.”