Gene therapy researchers were converging on a holy grail. A few years ago, researchers at labs and companies reported they had engineered viruses that could ferry corrective genes deep into the brain, giving potential entry to a new world of treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a slew of rare genetic diseases.
This summer, after years of careful study, the first person underwent gene therapy using one of the new viruses. The patient, a young child, died two and a half days later.
The death has sent concern and uncertainty rippling through labs and companies developing gene therapies for the brain, along with rare disease groups who hoped these tools could deliver long-sought cures. They worry that Capsida Biotherapeutics unearthed a broader risk for other viruses designed to travel like a messenger pigeon to our brains, one that could derail years of progress.Â
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