The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday officially granted the foundational patent for CRISPR-Cas9 to the University of California, following years of legal battles with the Broad Institute, which received competing patents, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Georgia, and Texas.
- California: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday officially granted the foundational patent for CRISPR-Cas9 to the University of California, following years of legal battles with the Broad Institute, which received competing patents along with Harvard University. The foundational patent covers CRISPR-Cas9 when it is used in a single guide format, including projects that use the technology to target and edit or modify genes (Chakradhar, "Morning Rounds," STAT News, 4/23; Associated Press, 4/23).
- Georgia: CDC on Tuesday announced that 156 people in 10 states have been infected with E. coli after eating ground beef from grocery stores and in restaurants. No deaths have been reported, but there have been 20 hospitalizations, according to CDC. The agency said it is still investigating the source of the contaminated ground beef. "At this time, no common supplier, distributor, or brand of ground beef has been identified," CDC said (O'Brien, Reuters, 4/23).
- Texas: St. David's Medical Center has named Todd Steward as its new CEO, effective April 29. Steward is currently CEO of St. David's South Austin Medical Center and has served in that position for nine years. Steward will succeed Don Wilkerson who retired from his role as CEO (Vaidya, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/23).
Gene-editing treatments—and 7 other technologies that could transform health care
Tomorrow’s treatments offer increasing precision and customization, ideally with less toxicity and fewer side effects. Armed with a wide array of related technologies, providers could address today’s unmet demands, such as potentially overcoming organ supply shortfalls and treating chronic conditions that are merely manageable today.
In this report, we discuss the future applications of gene editing and how CRISPR gene-editing technology could cure disorders caused by single-gene mutations.