Boston-based biotech Vertex announced this week that it has signed an exclusive licensing deal with CRISPR Therapeutics to leverage its gene editing technology in hopes of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D) drugs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Vertex will pay CRISPR $100 million upfront for non-exclusive rights to its CRISPR/Cas9 technology, with an additional $230 million in research and development milestone payments. Specifically, Vertex will be developing hypoimmune gene-edited cell therapies for T1D.
In 2022, Vertex acquired ViaCyte, to collaborate on gene-edited allogenic stem cell therapies. A Phase 1/2 clinical trial is currently underway for VCTX211, a potential treatment for T1D that was derived from the collaboration between the two. This acquisition also gave Vertex access to hypoimmune stem cell assets via the ViaCyte collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics.
Last year, Vertex and Verve therapeutics agreed to a four-year research collaboration to discover and develop in vivo gene editing program for liver disease.
