Lexicon Genetics Incorporated has granted a non-exclusive sublicense to Biogen, Inc. for the use of certain aspects of Lexicon’s positive- negative selection technology for the generation of knockout mice.
Biogen will use the technology in its internal drug-discovery and target validation programs.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Lexicon‘s positive-negative selection technology is one of the most efficient methods of targeting genes for the generation of knockout mice, which are used to determine the role of specific genes in mammalian disease and physiology.
Lexicon holds certain exclusive rights under patents that cover the positive-negative selection technology.
“In the post-genome era, gene knockout technology has become the preferred method to study gene function in mammals.
This method provides valuable predictive information about which gene products are valid drug targets or therapeutic proteins for pharmaceutical development.
We are pleased that Biogen has joined our growing list of sublicensees for Lexicon’s powerful gene-targeting technology,” stated Randall Riggs, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Lexicon Genetics.
Lexicon Genetics Incorporated is a leader in defining the functions of genes for drug discovery using large-scale knockout mouse technology.
Lexicon has invented high-throughput gene trapping technology to discover thousands of genes and expand its OmniBank library of tens of thousands of knockout mouse clones.
The Company uses an integrated platform of functional genomic technologies to accelerate large-scale analysis of mammalian gene function for drug discovery.