Gene therapy edges towards commercial reality
By Reuters,
Reuters
| 05. 25. 2009
LONDON, (Reuters) - Gene therapy may be about to become a commercial reality, 20 years after the first experiments with the ground-breaking medical technology.
But the tale of two biotech companies - one British and one U.S. - suggests a tricky road ahead.
On the one side, French authorities recently allowed an experimental gene medicine from Britain's Ark Therapeutics to be prescribed to certain patients with brain cancer, even though it is not approved for general use.
The news boosted hopes that the European Medicines Agency will clear Ark's drug Cerepro for sale across the European Union in the second half of 2009.
By contrast, U.S.-based Introgen Therapeutics - which had been competing to get the first gene therapy approved in Western markets - filed for bankruptcy in December, after a regulatory setback for its experimental cancer drug Advexin.
The last two decades have seen more than 1,470 clinical trials involving gene therapy, two-thirds of them aimed at cancer, according to the Journal of Gene Medicine.
But the only drug to get to market so far has been one for...
Related Articles
By Grace Won, KQED [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025
In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...
Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...
Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project, MacArthur Genius, liberationist, storyteller, writer, and friend of CGS, died on November 14. Alice shone a bright light on pervasive ableism in our society. She articulated how people with disabilities are limited not by an inability to do things but by systemic segregation and discrimination, the de-prioritization of accessibility, and the devaluation of their lives.
We at CGS learned so much from Alice about disability justice, which goes beyond rights...
By Adam Feuerstein, Stat | 11.20.2025
The Food and Drug Administration was more than likely correct to reject Biohaven Pharmaceuticals’ treatment for spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare and debilitating neurodegenerative disease. At the very least, the decision announced Tuesday night was not a surprise to anyone paying attention. Approval...
