Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA and Paris, France
January 30, 2014

Precision BioSciences, Inc. and Cellectis SA (Alternext: ALCLS), today announced that they have reached an agreement to settle patent litigation involving engineered I-CreI meganuclease technology. As part of the settlement, the companies will cross-license certain genome engineering patents and drop their on-going lawsuits and patent challenges. This agreement provides clear freedom to operate for both companies in the engineered I-CreI meganuclease genome engineering field.

Engineered meganucleases are one of the preferred genome engineering technologies for most high-value applications. Their small size and exquisite specificity make them safer and easier to deliver than alternative gene editing tools. In addition, current embodiments of the technology are versatile enough to edit any gene in a genome.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with our colleagues at Cellectis,” said Matthew Kane, Precision BioSciences’ CEO, “and are very much looking forward to focusing fully on the commercial development of highly needed products utilizing our Directed Nuclease Editor genome engineering technology.”

“This agreement with our colleagues at Precision Biosciences sets the value of innovation of a proven and effective genome engineering tool: meganucleases,” stated Dr. André Choulika, Chairman and CEO of Cellectis, “This natural technology has tremendous advantages and has now the full potential to be developed in a number important applications such as agricultural biology and bioproduction.”

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Published: January 30, 2014