EdiGene and Arbor Enter License Agreement to Advance Ex Vivo Engineered Cell Therapy Programs

Chinese gene-editing biotech EdiGene entered into a non-exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Arbor Biotechnologies to access Arbor’s proprietary CRISPR gene editing technology for certain ex vivo engineered cell therapy programs in the field of oncology.

“Partnering with leading engineered cell therapy developers is a key component of Arbor’s strategy to broaden the potential of our CRISPR discovery engine beyond our wholly-owned in vivo genetic medicine approaches for the benefit of even more patients,” said Devyn Smith, CEO of Arbor.

Edigene has established proprietary ex vivo genome-editing platforms for hematopoietic stem cells and T cells, an in vivo therapeutic platform based on RNA base editing, and high-throughput genome-editing screening to discover novel targeted therapies.

Under the agreement, EdiGene will pay Arbor certain upfront, milestone payments, commercial payments upon the achievement of certain development and sales milestones, and tiered royalties on net sales of royalty-bearing EdiGene products.

The licensed technology is a part of Arbor’s proprietary CRISPR gene-editing portfolio, an extensive toolbox of proprietary genomic editors, which are tailored to address the underlying pathology of genetic diseases. Using the discovery platform, Arbor can discover, screen, and engineer novel editing enzymes and effectors that can then be tailored to the underlying cause of disease to result in potentially curative medicines for patients.

“This partnership will expand EdiGene’s gene-editing toolkit and strengthen our capabilities to advance ongoing ex vivo gene-editing cell therapy programs for multiple serious diseases,” said Dong Wei, CEO of EdiGene.

Photo: Dong Wei, CEO of EdiGene

Author: Rare Daily Staff