ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AMRI (NASDAQ:
AMRI) today announced that it entered into a non-exclusive
commercial license agreement with the Broad Institute of
MIT and Harvard for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing
technology and has completed several projects for its customers.
The company will continue to use the technology to enhance its drug
discovery service offerings and internal research and development.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
"While many people know CRISPR for its potential to edit
defective genes to cure disease, there are a range of other
applications in drug discovery for which CRISPR has significant
utility that are critical to our customers' R&D projects,
notably drug target assessment and in vitro model
development for lead discovery and optimization," said Christopher Conway, Senior Vice President,
Discovery and Development Services at AMRI. "We are committed to
continue to build our services offerings so that we stay in the
leading position with important technologies such as CRISPR to
enhance the success of our customers' programs."
The CRISPR/Cas system serves as a naturally-occurring bacterial
immune system that confers resistance to foreign genetic elements
such as those from viruses. It has been developed as a precise
method for editing the genetic code in mammalian cells, which
allows researchers to effectively knock out or enhance the
expression of targeted genes. It offers great utility in the
development of in vivo and in vitro disease models,
which are important for drug discovery research.
Under the terms of the commercial use license, AMRI gained
access to IP related to CRISPR-Cas9 technology that is being used
to enhance AMRI's drug discovery services offerings and associated
client programs. The application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology benefits
a number of the specific services that AMRI provides to its
customers, including protein production, cell line and assay
development, high content screening and analysis, and target
validation and assessment.
About AMRI
Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) is a global contract
research and manufacturing organization that has been working with
the Life Sciences industry to improve patient outcomes and the
quality of life for more than two decades. With locations in
North America, Europe and Asia, our key business segments include
Discovery and Development Services (DDS), Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredients (API), and Drug Product Manufacturing (DP). Our DDS
segment provides comprehensive services from hit identification to
IND, including expertise with diverse chemistry, library design and
synthesis, in vitro biology and pharmacology, drug metabolism and
pharmacokinetics, as well as natural products. API supports the
chemical development and cGMP manufacture of complex API, including
potent and cytotoxic compounds, controlled substances, steroids,
hormones, and sterile API. DPM supports development through
commercial scale production of complex liquid-filled and
lyophilized parenterals, sterile suspensions and ophthalmic
formulations. For more information about AMRI, please visit our
website at www.amriglobal.com or follow us on Twitter
(@amriglobal).
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SOURCE AMRI