Foley & Lardner LLP Partner Stephen (Steve) Maebius was featured in the article, “How counsel can seal CRISPR collaboration deals,” in Managing IP discussing how companies approach making CRISPR deals and what goes into these partnerships and licensing agreements from an IP perspective.
Timelines can be tricky, and companies have to consider when in their product development cycles to sign CRISPR licenses. Maebius said, “companies in the early stages of drug development may wait until their products are pretty well defined before deciding which licenses they need” and “potential licensees may want to avoid taking licenses as well until they’ve worked out whether their products will succeed.” He also noted that “licensors could ask for higher rates if implementers wait too long, especially if it turns out that the therapeutics in questions are very valuable” and “parties should also contemplate whether they’ll need CRISPR licenses at all.”
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