Dive Brief:
- In a move to expand its genome editing IP portfolio, Thermo Fisher has picked up a license for CRISPR technologies from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and ERS Genomics. This builds on previous CRISPR license agreements with ToolGen.
- Thermo Fisher also holds exclusive rights to the Tal effector nuclease (TALEN) IP portfolio, a genome editing technology that works in a different way than CRISPR.
- The global CRISPR technology market could be worth as much as $10.6 billion by 2027, according to a report from Research and Markets, as CRISPR becomes a more important tool in drug discovery broadly and as the backbone of experimental therapeutics.
Dive Insight:
Much in the way that the emergence of cell and gene therapy has boosted demand for viral vector manufacturing, advances in CRISPR-based therapeutics is leading manufacturers like Thermo Fisher to invest in building their own expertise.
Thermo Fisher's announcement is also timely. A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a previous decision by a federal patent board that key intellectual property held by the Broad Institute does not interfere with rival claims from the University of California. The appeals court verdict was a win for the Broad and firms up their IP position.
Elsewhere, Thermo Fisher has been busy expanding its manufacturing footprint over the last year. In March, it announced plans for a new European facility focused on pharmaceutical services and the drug supply chain. Thermo has also bought up Becton Dickinson's bioprocessing business, which makes products used in manufacturing processes for biopharmaceuticals.
Both of these announcements follow its 2017 purchase of the Dutch CDMO Patheon, which brought Thermo Fisher into the huge and growing contract development and manufacturing market.
The acquisition of Patheon increased Thermo Fisher's Laboratory Products and Services Segment revenue by 42% to $2.55 billion, compared with $1.79 billion in the second quarter of 2017.