THE black cloud hanging over gene therapy since the death of Jesse Gelsinger
in a trial last year is starting to break up. In the latest of a string of
successes for gene therapy, researchers in Massachusetts have managed to restore
the blood supply to damaged heart muscles.
“This is solid evidence that gene therapy can have a major, positive impact
on human biology,” says Jeffery Isner, a cardiologist at Tufts University School
of Medicine in Boston, who led the study.
In April, French scientists reported success in treating two infants
suffering from a rare inherited immune disorder sometimes known…
