Editas Medicine Announces U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Remands CRISPR Patent Interference to Patent Trial and Appeal Board

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDIT), a pioneering gene editing company, today announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part and vacated-in-part the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTABs) previous decision and remanded it back to the PTAB for further review in the U.S. patent interference involving specific patents for CRISPR/Cas9 editing in human cells between the University of California, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier and the Broad Institute (Broad). The Company’s in-licensed patents covering CRISPR/Cas12a are not at issue in the interference and are unaffected by this decision.

“We remain confident in the strength of our IP portfolio and that it will continue to generate significant value both now and in the future. This decision does not affect our ability to license our IP, nor does it change existing licenses we have issued. We remain focused on executing on our strategy, which includes licensing this foundational IP and developing transformative gene editing medicines for people living with serious diseases,” said Gilmore O’Neill, M.B., M.M.Sc., President and Chief Executive Officer, Editas Medicine. “We remain optimistic that the PTAB will ultimately render a decision in favor of Broad.”

O’Neill added, “Editas holds a large portfolio of foundational U.S. and international patents and is the exclusive licensee of Harvard University’s and the Broad Institute's Cas9 patent estates covering Cas9 use for developing human medicines. It is important to note that only a fraction of these patents are currently involved in these ongoing interference proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).”

Editas Medicine’s foundational intellectual property includes issued patents covering fundamental aspects of both CRISPR/Cas12a and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in all human cells. Successfully editing this cell type is essential to making CRISPR-based medicines. Additionally, the Company holds a wide range of fundamental intellectual property directed to all the components of its gene editing platform including product-enabling and product-specific intellectual property covering the use of CRISPR/Cas12a and CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing of human cells in the United States, Australia, Europe, Japan, China, and other jurisdictions. 

About Editas Medicine

As a pioneering gene editing company, Editas Medicine is focused on translating the power and potential of the CRISPR/Cas12a and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing systems into a robust pipeline of in vivo medicines for people living with serious diseases around the world. Editas Medicine aims to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize transformative, durable, precision in vivo gene editing medicines for a broad class of diseases. Editas Medicine is the exclusive licensee of Broad Institute’s Cas12a patent estate and Broad Institute and Harvard University’s Cas9 patent estates for human medicines. For the latest information and scientific presentations, please visit .

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words ‘‘anticipate,’’ ‘‘believe,’’ ‘‘continue,’’ ‘‘could,’’ ‘‘estimate,’’ ‘‘expect,’’ ‘‘intend,’’ ‘‘may,’’ ‘‘plan,’’ ‘‘potential,’’ ‘‘predict,’’ ‘‘project,’’ ‘‘target,’’ ‘‘should,’’ ‘‘would,’’ and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the outcome of the remand to the PTAB for further review and the Company’s intent to continue to license its intellectual property and the expected benefits received from such licensing. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: uncertainties inherent with litigation, including patent interference proceedings, and any resulting negative impact to the ability of the Company to license the specific patents in dispute; uncertainties inherent in the initiation and completion of clinical trials, and clinical development of the Company’s product candidates; availability and timing of results from clinical trials; whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of the trial or the results of future trials; expectations for regulatory approvals to conduct trials or to market products and availability of funding sufficient for the Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements.  These and other risks are described in greater detail under the caption “Risk Factors” included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other filings that the Company may make with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

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