Comments on: First therapy in the western world to correct errors in a person’s genetic code approved

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:35:23 +0000

I keep checking on this website hoping to find stories like this :-) This really warms my heart

By: InvestorPro2012

InvestorPro2012 — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:39:48 +0000

What an amazing breakthrough. To think what the next five to ten years holds for the field of medicine is truly exciting. I’m confident that new treatments for cancer are just around the corner.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 03:37:23 +0000

Makes me think we are just a very complicated computer code and repairs and then upgrades are just around the corner. If we are 1% there at year 7 of 14 total, then maybe the half way point and right on track…….(grin).

…so then how long before they can bring back a woolly mammoth or just bring Evils and Einstein (ok, just a clone…. I know he would not be the same exactly).

Hurry up…this future thing sounds cool.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:47:58 +0000

Things like this are already in testing for cancer. Using viruses to target certain cells is not a new idea… just not feasible yet on a large or practical scale.

By: Editor

Editor — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:30:28 +0000

Yes. On October 16, 2003, Shenzhen SiBiono GenTech (Shenzhen, China), obtained a drug license from the State Food and Drug Administration of China (SFDA; Beijing, China) for its recombinant Ad-p53 gene therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)—a cancer that accounts for about 10% of the 2.5 million annual new cancer patients in China, sold under the brand name Gendicine. — Nature Biotechnology 22, 3 – 4 (2004)
doi:10.1038/nbt0104-3 http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v22/n1/full/nbt0104-3.html (open access)

By: Jason Silva fanboy

Jason Silva fanboy — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:06:13 +0000

Wow, this is awesome, sooner than I’d have thought. Bring it on.

But … did somebody in the non-western world manage this earlier?

By: Vin

Vin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:22:59 +0000

Wow, shades of ‘Post Mortal Syndrome’ the sci-fi novel already? Too surreal, man.

By: Mr.X

Mr.X — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:47:02 +0000

@Gabriel: This is like the -the past was better- thing.People say this at all times.Everyone lives/lived in amazing times- maybe living is amazing (in wealthy societies)!?

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:44:19 +0000

This is beyond awesome – I cannot believe something like this has happened already….it feels so soon — Kurzweil DID say this decade would be when genetics reaches it’s peak, but that therapies are already being approved is incredible. We’re living in such an amazing time when so many things seem to be happening all at once

By: Aus

Aus — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:35:32 +0000

I have marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes me to have weak connective tissue throughout my body. It also causes serious heart problems.

I am cautiously optimistic that one day I’ll have a strong, healthy, and youthful body. I predict decades but I think we’ll get there.

By: Mr.X

Mr.X — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:07:21 +0000

Europe rules!

By: Bri

Bri — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:18:10 +0000

We are in the first phase. Genetic research like this has already happened for other diseases, but they were only proof of principal tests. They will wait and see how this pans out, before proceeding with other cures and genetic therapeutic vectors.that’s why they choose these very rare afflictions. There is no other hope, so if things go wrong, there won’t be as much negative impact. Soon enough we will have nanobots inserting the corrective genes into the necessary cells.

By: Beatriz Valdes

Beatriz Valdes — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:47:23 +0000

There are some, I for one, whose metabolism creates mor Tryglicerides than is normal, and it is genetic. Would this new Glycera cure this condition? Pancreatitis could develop in these cases.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:48:36 +0000

You are right, this is really huge and very exciting. I am looking forward for the time I will be able to enhance myself through genetic engineering and nanotechnology. It is interesting to note that Ray Kurzweil predictions are proving to be accurate also in which regards to timing (sorry for eventual English errors: it is a foreign language for me).

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:05:10 +0000

I hope this really works. It will pave the way to curing all kinds of diseases.

By: monty

monty — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:52:36 +0000

When do people envision something like this being brought to cancer patients and other diseases?

By: TheDonald

TheDonald — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:50:41 +0000

Yeah, that’s true. In general, the new and advanced therapies start out at the extreme ends of a bell curve and generally move to the centre (for the mainstream), becoming more cheaper and robust.

By: YourNameHere

YourNameHere — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:44:31 +0000

Another great discovery. And BTW “Will be available by second half of 2013″
This is fast. Wow.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:05:24 +0000

I don’t see you as the least bit callous, James. I have suffered from a genetically inherited disease since infancy. As an asthmatic, I have had to struggle just to breathe. I can tell you that a severe asthma attack is just one step down from being water boarded. Yet I have often had to put up with ridicule from healthy people who think my gasping for breath is funny. Now that is really callous. I’ve always envied you healthy people your every clear breath, and lamented to see you put cigarette smoke into your healthy lungs. When I meet a smoker who is suffering from emphysema, I feel so bad for him. He is living through an attack that never ends.

By: judge

judge — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:32:07 +0000

The promise of practical genetic modification for genetic based conditions has officially arrived- onward and upward!!!!

By: blair

blair — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:31:09 +0000

YES

By: melajara

melajara — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:54:13 +0000

Thanks for the precision Amara

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:50:30 +0000

“No germline” — uniQure CEO

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:47:44 +0000

I sent a note. No mention of germline research on their website that I could find.

By: melajara

melajara — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:31:54 +0000

@Editor, could you please check if this therapy is addressing the somatic cells only or the germ line too.

This is important as the former case is addressing the person only but without any effect to his/her potential descendents when the later will translate on an “inherited” therapy for the descendents.

Of course, it is much more difficult to have this “definitive” type of therapies accepted by defensive ethical committees.

By: James

James — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:01:27 +0000

This is absolutely huge. These first treatments to fix our genetic code will rightly focus on people with life threatening diseases, but they will also scale up the technologies. Also, and I don’t mean to sound callous here, but these treatments for people with genetic diseases will allow medical science to iron out the bugs and make future treatments more effective. So when treatments to enhance healthy people come along, probably early next decade, we can be confident they’ll work, and work well. I look forward to seeing how effective this is.