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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Horizon Discovery today announced it has licensed technology from ERS Genomics related to the CRISRP-Cas9 gene editing system.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement, Horizon can use the technology for research applications, such as the development and sale of research tools, kits, and reagents; performance of research services; development of genetically modified disease model cell lines; development and production of reference standard materials for molecular diagnostics; and internal target identification and validation research.

The Cambridge, UK-based firm said that the deal strengthens its position in the market for the CRISPR-Cas9 technology and will allow Horizon to deploy it across the company’s products, services, and R&D and to “enhance the attractiveness” of the Horizon Genesis offering to customers. The Genesis platform consists of gene editing tools to alter endogenous gene sequences of human or mammalian cell lines.

“Horizon Discovery’s ambition is to be the market leader in CRISPR technology, and by expanding our portfolio of intellectual property rights in this area, we aim to ensure that our customers, both now and in the future, will have unencumbered access to this innovative new gene editing technology,” Horizon CEO Darrin Disley said in a statement.

The CRISPR technology licensed from ERS Genomics was developed by Emmanuelle Charpentier from Hannover Medical School in Germany and Umea University in Sweden and her colleagues. Recently a firm called CRISPR Therapeutics launched in Switzerland based on Charpentier’s work, as Gene Silencing News reported.

A patent application for Charpentier’s work has been filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Last month, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted the first patent for an engineered CRISPR-Cas9 system to the Broad Institute.