Cellectis and Thermo Fisher Scientific Enter Into Agreements on TALEN™, a Leading Gene Editing Technology
June 5, 2014 – Carlsbad, Calif. and Paris – Cellectis (Alternext: ALCLS.PA), a leader of engineered CART cell therapies, and Thermo Fisher Scientific announced today that they have entered into a series of agreements covering the uses of TAL nucleases under the brand name TALEN™.

Pursuant to these agreements, Thermo Fisher is granted a worldwide license under Cellectis’ rights to the TAL nucleases outside the therapeutic field, with exclusive rights to grant sublicenses in research and development, bioproduction and certain applied markets. Thermo Fisher currently markets TALEN™ for these applications under its Life Technologies brand.

Cellectis is granted a worldwide license under Thermo Fisher’s rights to TAL nucleases in the research and development field for internal and collaborative research, for commercialization of TAL gene editing for Cellectis bioresearch’s products and services, and in the plant biotechnology field for Cellectis plant sciences’ in-house and collaborative research and development. Finally, Cellectis is granted a worldwide license for therapeutic research and development, including rights to grant sublicenses for therapeutic uses in the fields of T cells and Natural Killer cells.

Dr. André Choulika, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cellectis stated: “We are very pleased to enter into these agreements that strengthen Cellectis’ position in the uses of TALEN™ gene editing in Cellectis’ core businesses, and solidifies our position as a leader in the field of engineered CART Chimeric Antigen Receptors therapeutics. TALEN™ is the state-of-the-art for gene editing and provides exceptional precision, safety, efficacy and ease of use. TAL nucleases have many applications in genome engineering and their efficacy and specificity make them the world’s best gene editing technology for therapeutic applications. Cellectis founded the field of gene editing 14 years ago and is now primarily focused on adoptive immunotherapy using TALEN™-engineered T cells combined with (CARs)."

“The agreements between Thermo Fisher and Cellectis createa powerful intellectual property portfolio comprised not only of the foundational work conducted at the University of Minnesota and Martin-Luther-Universitay Halle-Wittenberg, but also additional intellectual property controlled by each party,” said Helge Bastian, general manager and vice president of synthetic biology at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The ability of TAL effectors to bind to DNA with unprecedented precision and reliability makes this technology invaluable to researchers looking to edit genomes and control gene activity. The current alliance clarifies the path for the use of TALEN™ gene editing in research and applied markets, and represents a major milestone in Thermo Fisher’s strategy to build a comprehensive gene editing technology platform.”
Commercial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

The Two Blades Foundation, a U.S.-based charitable organization (info@2blades.org), has exclusive rights to the intellectual property covering the foundational work on TAL effectors performed at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg for commercial applications in plants and is committed to broadly licensing its rights.

About Cellectis
Cellectis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology. The company’s mission is to develop a novel generation of therapy based on engineered T-cells to treat cancer. Cellectis capitalizes on its 14 years of expertise in genome engineering, based on TALEN™, meganucleases and the state-of-the-art electroporation technology Pulse Agile, to create a new generation of cancer immunotherapy for treating leukemias and solid tumors. Cellectis adoptive cancer immunotherapy for chronic and acute leukemias is based on the first allogeneic T-cell chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology. CAR technologies are designed to target surface antigens expressed on cells. These treatments reduce toxicities associated with current chemotherapeutics and have the potential for curative therapy. The Cellectis Group is focused on life sciences and uses leading genome engineering technologies to build innovative products in various fields and markets. Cellectis is listed on the NYSE Alternext market (ticker: ALCLS). To find out more about us, visit our website: www.cellectis.com.

 About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of $17 billion and 50,000 employees in 50 countries. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity. Our four premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Life Technologies, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services – offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive support. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.