Editas Medicine, Inc., a leading genome editing company, and Allergan plc, a leading global pharmaceutical company, announced that Allergan's wholly-owned subsidiary—Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Limited—and Editas Medicine have entered into a strategic research and development alliance under which Allergan will receive exclusive access and the option to license up to five of Editas Medicine's genome-editing ocular programs, including its lead program for Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA10), which is currently in pre-clinical development.
The agreement covers early stage, first-in-class ocular programs targeting serious diseases based on Editas Medicine's unparalleled CRISPR genome editing platform, including CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cpf1. Editas Medicine's lead program is being developed for the potential treatment of LCA10—a rare, inherited retinal degenerative disease that appears in childhood and leads to blindness.
WilmerHale provided legal counsel to Editas Medicine on this deal, with Steve Barrett and Rosemary Reilly leading the team that included Jenna Ventorino and Ritu Gupta.
View Editas Medicine's press release for more information.
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