Poster
03-03-2005, 01:05 PM
The FDA has suspended multiple U.S. gene therapy experiments after three children who underwent treatment in France have developed cancer as a result. The FDA will conduct a meeting to discuss the long-term and near-term risks. Gene therapy treatments have been attempted thousands of times, only successfully curing about a dozen patients, all of them children in Europe who were born with a sever immune system disorder. The FDA does not usually tell the pubic about clinical trials it has suspended, but made an exception in this case.
“‘We want to continue, but of course there is a safety issue,’ said Alain Fischer of the Necker Hospital in Paris, the leader of the French study.”
"It's extremely expensive, but this shows how important it is" to study the animals longer, Cynthia Dunbar of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute said, who called the fatal cancer "very concerning."
For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3926-2005Mar3?language=printer
“‘We want to continue, but of course there is a safety issue,’ said Alain Fischer of the Necker Hospital in Paris, the leader of the French study.”
"It's extremely expensive, but this shows how important it is" to study the animals longer, Cynthia Dunbar of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute said, who called the fatal cancer "very concerning."
For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3926-2005Mar3?language=printer