Heidelberg: Gene Bridges licenses Red/ET to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

Licensing agreement

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company has signed a licence agreement with the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) spin-out company Gene Bridges, Heidelberg, Germany, to use its proprietary Red/ET recombineering technology, patented as “Novel DNA Cloning Method” in Japan.

Following its licence agreement with Takeda, Gene Bridges, a specialist in recombineering technology, will be exhibiting at the BIO Japan 2008 World Business Forum in Yokohama on 15 to 17 October through its distribution partner Funakoshi.

Red/ET technology is a way of modifying E. coli–compatible DNA target molecules via a process called homologous recombination. Gene Bridges say it allows every type of DNA modification possible in a short time frame, irrespective of DNA size and presence of restriction sites.

Gary Stevens, of Gene Bridges, said: “We are very pleased to add such a major player as Takeda to the list of companies using the technology in Japan. Their decision shows that Red/ET recombineering is the technology of choice in DNA engineering.”