From Mark Davies, University of Queensland Royal Women's Hospital
There have been calls for a moratorium on gene therapy research following the
death of a patient taking part in a clinical trial of gene therapy
(18 March, p 3
and p 5).
It seems that some of the main issues around this event relate more to the
conduct of the trial itself than any adverse effect of the experimental therapy.
It is up to researchers, and those supervising them, to ensure that any clinical
trial is adequately monitored by a data and safety monitoring committee
throughout the conduct of the trial.
It seems that the moratorium should be on bad research (or good research done
badly) rather than on any particular experimental treatment.
Brisbane
