Federal Oversight Group Has Complaints But Says Yes To CRISPR Trial

Despite worries about conflict of interest, a National Institutes of Health committee that oversees the use of gene therapy and other cutting edge biomedical technologies voted today to let researchers move ahead with a landmark clinical trial. Depending on timing, it could be the first to use the gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 in a human treatment.

There are still hurdles. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine team, led by high profile cancer researcher Carl June and funded by billionaire Sean Parker’s new cancer institute, must get a green light from the FDA, according to NIH regulations. It’s not clear when Penn hopes to start a trial, which would be small and designed to evaluate the safety of an experimental treatment for several types of cancer.

[Updated with Penn Medicine statement.] In response to questions about the conflict of interest and a timeline for the trial, a spokeswoman emailed a statement that said Penn Medicine “was pleased” by the vote and looks forward to presenting the trial for FDA review. It did not address the conflict or...