TAL-effector Nuclease: The USPTO Issues a Third Patent Licensed to Cellectis

Regulatory News:

Cellectis (Paris:ALCLS) (NYSE PA: ALCLS), the global genome engineering specialist, announces the issuance by the USPTO on May 28, 2013 of a 3^rd US patent (US 8,450,471) directed to TAL-effector nucleases.

This third patent follows the issuance on May, 14 2013 of two previous patents (US 8,440,431 and US 8,440,432) directed to TAL-effector nuclease technology. This third issued patent is more particularly drawn to the polynucleotides encoding the TAL-effector nuclease, per se. i.e. the reagent molecules that are used to specifically cut the DNA at desired locations in the genome of living cells.

These issued patents are part of a patent portfolio owned by the Regents of the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University Research Foundation and licensed exclusively to Cellectis as per a license agreement of January 2011.

The inventors of the three patents are Pr. Daniel Voytas, from the University of Minnesota who is also acting as Chief Scientific Officer of Cellectis plant sciences in New Brighton (MN), Pr. Adam Bogdanove formerly of Iowa State University and currently of Cornell University Dr. Feng Zhang, who is now Chief Operating Officer of Cellectis plant sciences.

Cellectis was the first company to bring TAL-effector nucleases to the marketplace as early as 2011, under the trademark TALEN^TM.

Cellectis provides its customers TALEN^TM product under license of these patents to easily achieve any genome engineering projects. Cellectis designs efficient solutions to edit any gene in any cell type in 4 weeks: human, animal, algae, plant, as well as viral and bacterial DNA. TALEN^TM product is an efficient synthetic biology tool allowing applications in diverse domains ranging from agriculture to therapy.

TALEN™ products are commercialized through Cellectis bioresearch, the commercial subsidiary of Cellectis.

For further information please contact us: contact@cellectis-bioresearch.com

www.cellectis-bioresearch.com

About Cellectis
Founded in 1999, the Cellectis Group runs on highly specific DNA engineering technologies. Its application sectors are human health, agriculture and bio-energies. Co-initiated by André Choulika, its Chairman and CEO, Cellectis is now one of the world’s leading companies in the field of genome engineering, with revenue of $27 million in 2012. Leading the field of pluripotent stem cells, Cellectis has developed expertise in drug discovery, the study of drug toxicity and regenerative medicine. Cellectis has a solid background in the large-scale handling of stem cells up until their maturation and differentiation into functional cell types. Cellectis has a workforce of 230 employees working at 5 sites worldwide: New Brighton (Minnesota) & Cambridge (Massachusetts) in the United States, Gothenburg in Sweden and Paris & Evry in France.
The Group has signed over 100 industry agreements with pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and biotechnology companies. University College London (UCL), the National Institute of Health (NIH), Novo Nordisk, the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) of Kyoto University, AFM, Novartis, BASF, Bayer and Limagrain are some of the Group’s clients and partners. Since 2007, Cellectis has been listed on the NYSE Euronext Alternext market (code: ALCLS) in Paris.
For more information, visit our website: www.cellectis.com.

Disclaimer
This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe, for shares in Cellectis in any country. This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to the Company’s objectives based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company’s management only and involve risk and uncertainties that could cause the Company to fail to achieve the objectives expressed by the forward-looking statements above.