By Nuala Moran Staff Writer
BOSTON The triumph of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Broad Institute and its spinout company Editas Medicine Inc. in the case of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing patents could impede the development of human therapies based on the technology, according to one of the leading researchers in the field.
George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, said, "It definitely is an issue" if Editas maintains exclusivity in applying patents on using CRISPR/Cas9 to edit eukaryote genes. That would limit the freedom to operate of Editas' direct competitors, Intellia Therapeutics Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG.
Church added that even if all three companies are equally involved in translation, "that is not enough to handle all the benefits to come out of this. I would love to see more companies," he told AAAS attendees.
Church could be seen as having something of an axe to grind because he published a paper in the same issue of Science as Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute, on using CRISPR/Cas9 in human cells. It is that research of Zhang's on which the disputed patent hangs.
The decision on the high-profile CRISPR/Cas9 patents came a day after the Committee on Human Gene Editing of the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine issued a report concluding that clinical trials involving genome editing in gametes or early embryos could be permitted in the future for serious diseases or disabilities, under stringent oversight. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 15, 2017, and Feb. 16, 2017.)
Church was one of the contributors to the international summit on gene editing held in Washington in December 2015 that led to the writing of the report. He said the report's proposals amounted to "a change in the red lines we are drawing." When talking about altering the inherited germline and the somatic cells of adults, "the line is now drawn on the seriousness of the disease," he said.
While the red line in germline modification is shifted, the line between using gene editing to cure disease and to enhance human traits becomes softer, Church suggested. For example, gene editing somatic cells to increase muscular strength in patients with muscular dystrophy could tip over into giving subjects greater than average strength.
Similarly, a somatic gene editing to improve cognition as a "cure" for Alzheimer's disease could result in patients having enhanced cognitive abilities.
Such modifications are far from becoming reality, but Church said other traits are more amenable to change. One example would be somatic modification to promote endogenous production of human growth hormone, which could be viewed both as a therapy and as a means of enhancement.
The Committee on Human Gene Editing was convened to try to get ahead of the curve in establishing regulations, before those types of modifications become feasible, as Richard Hynes, professor of cancer at MIT and co-chair of the committee, explained.
While he agreed it is difficult to draw the line between the use of somatic gene editing for treatment of disease and for enhancement, he said he firmly believes enhancement should be banned for now. "We should work out the risk/benefit for therapies first. It will take time to understand the risks. With enhancement, the benefits are debatable, but the risks are the same," Hynes said.
The concern is that, as with stem cell therapies, genetic enhancement through somatic gene editing will be on offer in rogue clinics and in countries where there is limited oversight.
Given that, one of the aims of the committee was to set out core principles that would be broadly influential and could be adopted as the basis for promulgating national laws governing the technology. "The principles are for application around the world, as part of a drive to try and harmonize international regulation," Hynes said.
That is all very well, but as Gary Marchant, of Arizona State University, also a member of the committee, noted, "There is a huge problem of international enforcement." Ways of trying to ensure compliance considered in the report include journals only publishing research that complies with international norms and withholding research grants if the rules are not upheld.
The committee did not consider patenting in its survey of gene editing. However, Marchant suggested refusing licenses could be another mechanism in attempts to ensure appropriate use of the technology worldwide. That "may have more currency at an international level," he said.
Link:
There's a fine red line between cures, enhancements using gene editing tech - BioWorld Online
- Gene Therapy for Genetic Disease: The Long and Winding Road [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- Gene Doping: Super Athletes in 2008 Beijing Olympics - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- The 3 Rs of DNA: Molecules to Medicine - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- BIT 3.1 Entrez Gene - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Professor Ian Everall - Gene expression in schizophrenia - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Gene Therapy Promising Treatment (Part 2 of 4) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Cancer Research @ NC State's Centennial Biomedical Campus - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Gene Therapy Promising Treatment (Part 1 of 1) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 19th, 2011]
- HiTech_U3L3_Biotech in Medicine - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 19th, 2011]
- Sri Sathya Sai Medical Camps Worldwide - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2011]
- Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone: 2008 Winner, $500000 Lemelson-MIT Prize - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 21st, 2011]
- Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer Survivor Testimony - (Sanoviv Medical Institute) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 22nd, 2011]
- Vaccines: Medicine for the Healthy - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 24th, 2011]
- For Your Health - Health Care Informatics - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 24th, 2011]
- A Century of Stem Cells - Johns Hopkins Medicine - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 24th, 2011]
- Functional Repair of Human Donor Lung by IL-10 Gene Therapy (EX VIVO Lung) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 25th, 2011]
- Science Talk: Vaccine Made With Synthetic Gene Protects Against Deadly Pneumonia - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 25th, 2011]
- Health Matters: Family Medicine - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 26th, 2011]
- Dr. Jeffrey Myers Explains Genetic Variations in Head and Neck Cancer - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- The Emerging Network of Data for Understanding the Interactions of Genes and Drugs - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Burzynski_ Cancer Is Serious Business Part 4/8. wmv - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Pt2: Do you understand the new genetics? Maybe you don't have that gene! - Andrew Shelling - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Alien Genetic Takeover of Humanity! - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Burzynski | 2-DVD Set Extended Edition Montage Preview of New Material | Cancer Is Serious Business - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Genes, Genomes and the Future of Medicine - Richard Lifton, MD, Ph.D. - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Burzynski The Movie ~ Cancer Is Serious Business ~ High Quality - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Designing Life for Mars Colonization (Brainstorm Ep20) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Dedication Event: Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- DR. Burzynski The Movie - Cancer Is Serious Business (PT.1) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- burzy - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Alien Genetic Takeover: The End of Humanity - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Burzynski_ Cancer Is Serious Business Part 1/8 .wmv - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Mike Schmidt - ECMO Patient - Penn State Hershey Medical Center - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Disrupting the HIV Virus (Brainstorm Ep24) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatorenal Syndrome - Moving Targets? - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Roles of RNA in Gene Regulation - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Diatom PCR Colony Screen - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., CEO, Regulus, talking on the impact of microRNA medicines - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Burzynski_ Cancer Is Serious Business Part 2/8 .wmv - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 28th, 2011]
- Sickle Cell Anemia: Stem Cell Gene Therapy - A Patient's Perspective - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 29th, 2011]
- Gene-based lung cancer treatment video - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 29th, 2011]
- HIV Resistant Genes...Rhesus Negative, Excess PK [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 29th, 2011]
- Futures in Biotech 83: Bioinformatics: Essential Gene names Skewed in a Network of Blame - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 29th, 2011]
- Keeping Blood Young, Fighting Sickle Cells (Brainstorm Ep28 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2011]
- News@Northwestern - NUGENE - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2011]
- UK Medical Student Mary Burchett's Research is Personal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2011]
- Cannabis 4 Crohn's: 2 Years As Medical Marijuana Patient, Dr Mind Bender [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2011]
- Medical Haptical Robot for the Eye - Eye-Rhas, - TU Eindhoven - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2011]
- The Ghost in Your Genes - Horizon - BBC - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 9th, 2011]
- The Ghost in Your Genes - BBC Horizon - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 13th, 2011]
- Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious Business (Trailer) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 16th, 2011]
- Genes, Ancestry, and Personalized Medicine with Dr. Michael Kane - Interview Part 1.mp4 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2011]
- The Suicide Gene - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2011]
- Ard Louis on Dawkins and Selfish Genes - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 30th, 2011]
- TEDxLex - Dr. Alicia L. Bertone - Gene Jockeying for a Win in Regenerative Medicine.mp4 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 3rd, 2011]
- Introduction to Gene Network - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2011]
- The demise of a dogma. The deaf somatic gene listens - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2011]
- Future of health care, hospitals, medicine and wellbeing - by Dr Patrick Dixon - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 8th, 2011]
- Electro-Medicine : Biological Physics : Neurological Research Advancements - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2011]
- Haemophilia gene therapy breakthrough - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2011]
- Duke researchers: Gene discovery explains how fruit flies retreat from heat - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 16th, 2011]
- Focus on Nikolaus Rajewsky - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 18th, 2011]
- Deadly Monopolies Medical Ethicist Harriet Washington on How Firms are Taking Over Life Itself - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 23rd, 2011]
- Open fetal surgery: past, present and future - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 23rd, 2011]
- The Human Genome and Individualized Medicine - David Valle, MD - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 14th, 2012]
- Environmental Contributors to Autism Spectrum Disorders - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 20th, 2012]
- When Cancer Runs in the Family - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 20th, 2012]
- Genome Enabled Electronic Medical Record (GenE EMR) - William Knaus - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 22nd, 2012]
- Nuvigil withdrawal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 23rd, 2012]
- Cancer Cure Documentary - Dr. Burzynski Antineoplaston Therapy - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 26th, 2012]
- Next Generation Cancer Gene Sequencing for Clinically Actionable Mutations - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 26th, 2012]
- Fibrocell Science, Inc. Announces Recognition for LAVIV™ (azficel-T) at The 2012 Cell & Gene Therapy Forum, Washington ... [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2012]
- Gene Mutation Linked to Inappropriate Lipid Buildup in Liver [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2012]
- 'Goldilocks' gene could determine best treatment for tuberculosis patients [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 3rd, 2012]
- James Wilson, MD, Ph.D., on Gene Therapy as a Disruptive Technology - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 3rd, 2012]
- 'Goldilocks' gene used to find drug treatment that is 'just right' for TB patients [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 4th, 2012]
- Gene therapy, a totally Italian success - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 4th, 2012]
- Electro-Medicine : Neurons function revealed - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 4th, 2012]
- Gene mutation discovery sparks hope for effective endometriosis screening [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2012]