Editas Medicine, Vertex Pharmaceuticals enter license agreement for Cas9

Editas Medicine (EDIT) announced that the Company and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) entered into a license agreement. Under terms of the agreement, Vertex will obtain a non-exclusive license for Editas Medicine’s Cas9 gene editing technology for ex vivo gene editing medicines targeting the BCL11A gene in the fields of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, including CASGEVY. This agreement extends Editas Medicine’s cash runway into 2026. Editas Medicine is the exclusive licensee of certain CRISPR patent estates for making human medicines. These include a Cas9 patent estate owned and co-owned by Harvard University, Broad Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Rockefeller University.