The Food and Drug Administration approved for the first time a CRISPR-based genetic therapy, the sickle cell treatment exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel). While questions remain about how payers will cover the cost of the therapies, a complex patent dispute may also result in potential delays for patients seeking treatments.
Featured in the article, Maria Laccotripe Zacharakis advises that, “Now that the technology is ready for commercialization, this first FDA approval in the CRISPR space may incentivize the players in the Intellectual Property field to resolve their patent disputes by, for example, cross-licensing the relevant seminal patents.” She said, “This will allow parties the freedom to commercialize their products without infringing any patents.”