BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Vertex builds CRISPR toolbox with Merck KGaA deal

January 24, 2019 7:57 PM UTC

In its latest move to build its gene editing capabilities, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) in-licensed from Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK) rights to two DNA damage response (DDR) inhibitors for gene editing applications.

While Merck has been developing its portfolio of DDR inhibitors for cancer, preclinical studies indicate the class of small molecules may also boost the efficiency of CRISPR-mediated gene editing insertions via the homology directed repair (HDR) pathway by disabling the competing non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repair pathway...