BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Merck KGaA's (MKGAY.PK) MilliporeSigma announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a formal notice allowing MilliporeSigma's patent application directed to its proxy-CRISPR technology.
MilliporeSigma's proxy-CRISPR is a new genome-editing technique that makes CRISPR more efficient, flexible and specific by opening the genome for modification of DNA. The technology can help scientists modify regions of the genome which are difficult to access.
The U.S. patent allowance marks MilliporeSigma's 13th CRISPR patent worldwide. MilliporeSigma's CRISPR patent portfolio includes granted patents in Australia, Canada, Europe, Singapore, China, Israel and South Korea. Those patents are for CRISPR-related technologies covering foundational and alternative genome-editing methods.
MilliporeSigma has received patents for its CRISPR paired nickase technology (cleaving opposite strands of a chromosomal sequence to create a double-stranded break) in Australia, Canada and Europe. Patents for MilliporeSigma's CRISPR integration technology (chromosomal cutting of the sequence of eukaryotic cells and insertion of a DNA sequence) have been granted in Australia, Canada, Europe, Singapore, China, Israel and South Korea. MilliporeSigma is licensing its entire patent portfolio for all fields of use.
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