The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Agilent Technologies over the invalidation of two CRISPR-related patents tied to chemical modifications of guide RNAs used in CRISPR-Cas editing. The decision effectively ends a multi-year legal dispute with gene-editing firm Synthego. Synthego said the Supreme Court’s refusal leaves intact a June 2025 Federal Circuit ruling that upheld PTAB’s view that Agilent’s claims were unpatentable. Agilent did not comment before the deadline. For gene-editing developers, the outcome can reduce barriers related to licensing and “patent thicket” risk around foundational gRNA modifications—potentially affecting how teams structure research programs, platform tooling, and therapeutic development timelines.