美国国家公共电台 NPR Broad Institute Wins Big Battle Over CRISPR Gene-Editing Patent

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have the story this morning of a patent - a very, very lucrative¹ patent.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It is for a tool called CRISPR. Sounds like a kitchen instrument, doesn't it? But it's actually a high-tech² gene-editing tool.

INSKEEP: Which is worth billions of dollars. And the U.S. Patent Office has delivered a potentially lucrative victory to the Broad Institute in Massachusetts. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE³: CRISPR is shaping up to play a big role in medicine and medical research because it can edit DNA⁴ with unprecedented⁵ accuracy. Who has the right to profit from the technology? Yesterday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark⁶ Office said patents issued to the Broad Institute, and then challenged by UC Berkeley, are in fact valid⁷.

JACOB SHERKOW: It's a pretty monumental decision here.

HARRIS: Jake Sherkow is an associate professor at the New York Law School. He's been tracking the dispute closely.

SHERKOW: It seems to reward the most valuable aspects of CRISPR to the Broad Institute over the University of California, Berkeley.

HARRIS: The proceedings⁸ aren't entirely⁹ settled, but as Sherkow sees the situation, the Broad Institute - a joint¹⁰ venture of Harvard and MIT - will hold a patent for using CRISPR in human beings, other animals and plants. His view is that Berkeley's patent, which has not yet been issued, could be limited to bacteria.

SHERKOW: Obviously, the patents covering the application of this technology to human cells, those are going to be much more financially valuable than using the same technology in bacteria because one can develop drugs and other therapies from them.

HARRIS: Investors¹¹ agreed with this assessment¹². The value of companies that were spun¹³ off to license¹⁴ the Broad patents rose sharply while the company based on the Berkeley patent lost value. And potentially tens of billions of dollars are at stake here, both for the companies and the universities. Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley discovered the biology that underlies¹⁵ this technology along with a European colleague, Emmanuelle Charpentier. Doudna isn't convinced that Berkeley is the big loser here. She said the ruling paves the way for her patent application to move forward.

JENNIFER DOUDNA: So we're looking forward to having our patent issued. And, you know, our patent is a very broad patent that covers the composition and the use of this technology in all cell types.

HARRIS: If the patent office rules the way Doudna hopes it will, people wanting to use the CRISPR technology in higher organisms will have to get licenses¹⁶ from both Berkeley and the Broad Institute.

DOUDNA: That's the thing that I think is a bit crazy about the way that the decision comes down is that that's where it leaves the field is this sort of situation where a license would be necessary from both parties. There's not further clarity at this stage.

HARRIS: Another possibility - Berkeley could appeal yesterday's ruling and once again challenge the Broad Institute's patents. Doudna says the university hasn't decided¹⁷ what to do just yet. Richard Harris, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF BERRY WEIGHT'S "YETI'S LAMENT")