For in-vivo gene therapy, the delivery vehicle is usually an adeno-associated virus (AAV), and the part of the virus that decides which tissue it infects is the capsid - the protein shell. The 2024 patent facet shows capsid engineering, not the therapeutic gene, is where the delivery IP battle sits.
Aggregate the 2024 AAV grants by owner and the field is academic and translational: Duke University (US12146151B2, cross-species-compatible AAV), Genethon (US12037362B2, a hybrid AAV9/AAVrh74 serotype with reduced liver tropism), and the Schepens Eye Research Institute (US12134786B2, ancestral-sequence capsid prediction). The longer facet adds Penn, the Regents of the University of California, and Voyager.
The CPC clustering is delivery-machinery throughout: C12N 15/86 (viral vectors), C12N 2750/14143 and the C12N 2750/141xx series (AAV-specific vector tags), C12N 7/00 (virus production), C07K 14/005 (the capsid protein). The recurring capsid-protein and serotype tags mark this as a tropism-and-immunity sub-estate, distinct from the therapeutic-gene claims.
The strategic frontier the grants share is retargeting and immune evasion. Wild-type AAV serotypes have fixed tissue preferences and face pre-existing neutralizing antibodies in many patients. Engineered capsids - hybrid serotypes, ancestral reconstructions, cross-species designs - aim to redirect tropism (e.g., away from liver) and dodge immunity. Each engineered capsid is a separately claimable composition.
For freedom-to-operate, the consequence is that an AAV gene therapy's delivery exposure is its capsid, not its payload. A program using a novel engineered capsid must clear the capsid-engineering estate - Duke, Genethon, the eye institutes, Penn - separately from any claims on the therapeutic transgene. The 2024 facet is the map of where that capsid IP is owned and contested.