Gene therapy News

It said the all-cash deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both firms.

The study, carried out on mice, shows that turning on a gene inside cells called astrocytes results in a smaller scar and -- potentially -- a more effective recovery from injury.

Over one year on from a single treatment with a gene therapy drug, participants with haemophilia A (the most common type) are showing normal levels of the previously missing protein, and effectively curing them.

People who have lost their sight to an inherited retinal disease can see well enough to navigate the maze, say researchers.

The boy suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic skin disease that had destroyed about 80 per cent of the outermost layer of his skin.

Gene therapy is a treatment that uses a patient`s own immune cells to fight leukemia.

Researchers from the University of Chicago, using CRISPR, have edited the skin stem cells from newborn mice which prompted the cells to secrete glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1).

The study showed that the single treatment may give life-long protection from asthma as well as those who have severe allergies to peanuts, bee venom, shell fish and other substances by de-sensitising the immune system to tolerate the protein.

Previous studies by the same team suggest this gene, called PGC1 - alpha, may prevent the formation of a protein called amyloid-beta peptide in cells in the lab.

 Chinese doctors have cured a patient of leukemia using gene therapy, a hospital in Chongqing announced on Friday.