What happens when you CRISPR people?
Few questions generated more contentious discussion in biotech in the mid-2010s, as researchers and executives debated the relative merits of preclinical studies that pointed both to the new gene-editing tool’s potential to cure numerous diseases and its potential to cause unintended genetic damage.
Over the last three years, though, data have slowly emerged to provide a tantalizing answer: A CRISPR-based treatment has seemingly cured more than 70 clinical trial participants of sickle cell disease, a deadly and debilitating condition long ignored by the medical establishment, and a related disease called beta-thalassemia. Approval of the treatment, developed by Vertex, could come as soon as next year.
About the Author Reprints
Create a display name to comment
This name will appear with your comment
