The Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to exa-cel, a drug made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and CRISPR Therapeutics Inc. to be marketed under the name Casgevy. Maria Laccotripe Zacharakis spoke with the Boston Business Journal about a potential intellectual property dispute over the CRISPR technology that may delay treatment for patients.
“It can either be resolved via litigation, which may potentially delay the therapies from entering the market, or it could be resolved more amicably by a cross-licensing agreement between the parties, putting the European and the U.S. markets across from the other,” Maria said. “Now if it goes to litigation, potentially an injunction is possible. But again, the court and the entities involved would not be well served, from an industry perspective and an image perspective, by delaying the entry of these life-saving treatments to market.”