NEW YORK – Sherlock Biosciences on Friday said that it has licensed exclusive US rights to CRISPR-Cas12 diagnostic technology from Shanghai-based Tolo Biotech.
In return, Sherlock has granted Tolo exclusive rights to the CRISPR-Cas13 SHERLOCK diagnostic platform in Greater China. Financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The rights granted to Sherlock complements its diagnostic rights to Cas12 and Cas13 proteins that it licensed from the Broad Institute. The SHERLOCK (Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unlocking) platform was developed by Feng Zhang's team at the Broad in 2017. It combines various CRISPR-Cas enzymes, such as Cas13, Cas12a, and Csm6, to allow for the simultaneous detection of multiple nucleic acids and can be adapted for use with existing diagnostic instruments, which may improve time to result due to the technology's multiplexing capacity.
"This agreement with Sherlock will enable both companies to develop diagnostic tools that can detect multiple pathogens or targets, improving disease screening, precision medicine and beyond," Jin Wang, co-founder and CSO of Tolo Biotech, said in a statement.
In early May Sherlock received US Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization for its CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for the detection of the virus that causes COVID-19.