India, May 13 -- Merck, a leading science and technology company has announced that two of its CRISPR-Cas9-assisted genome-editing patents have been allowed in the United States. These allowances provide Merck with the opportunity to support U.S. scientists and researchers in their work to advance and protect gene therapy development programs. The company is in active discussions to license its foundational technology for therapeutic and other uses and is seeking collaboration partners for research and product development.

Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science said, "This is important news for researchers, as CRISPR-based DNA cleavage and integration are fundamental for many genome-editing applications and...