Xi Fung
Jan 6, 2016
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Featured
A legal storm is threatening a startup backed by Bill Gates that wants to edit people's genes by 2017
A patent fight has been brewing over a new gene-editing technology that could be worth hundreds of millions, and it could throw a wrench in the plans of a company that just went public.
On Monday, Editas Medicine, the startup whose backers include Bill Gates and Google Ventures, filed for a $100-million IPO. But the vital patents the company holds — which surround its exclusive rights to gene-editing technology CRISPR — could soon be rendered worthless.