Gene Therapy

Click this to read the full story: Gene Therapy


They are now tampering with genes to cure rare metabolic disorders. But where else could this lead? This could be the future of medicine. And again, like I mentioned in another thread, something like this could lead to things similar to the movie "I am Legend".

This "Gene Therapy" will actually be in the market within one year. It is a controversial treatment because it directly alters a patient's own DNA.

"They work by actually tampering with a person’s DNA--usually by encoding a functioning gene to replace a mutated one, or by introducing DNA that encodes a therapeutic protein into the body."

Where do you guys think this could go? Do you think it will be mostly good or bad?

Let's have a nice discussion.

The article illustrates gene therapy to be the Holy Grail of medicine, but to be quite honest, I'm sceptical. I actually read an article a couple of months ago saying that medicine had gone as far as it could go with current technology, and the next big thing to help with medicine is maths . However, don't get me wrong, I'm all for gene therapy if it works properly, but what happens if it doesn't, or worst case scenario, goes wrong? I mean, the process uses genes to generate protein therapies into the body; what if this screws up? I'm not a biologist myself, but surely tampering with our body in such a way could really damage us? I've read the article and it doesn't include side effects or the possible dangers of gene therapy. So, is this just another product of the US capitalists that is fighting for a place on the market as quickly as possible? I'm not sure and I haven't done the research, if anyone knows the cons of gene therapy, please post!
Plus, I'm sure I remember something similar to this being launched and failing miserably, which to be quite honest is disappointing; the article even mentions failures in China in 2003.
Sorry to be the black hat of your thread, I just think before a judgement can be reached, the positives and negatives should be weighed up - currently, I don't know the negatives so I'm just assuming the worst.

Ellipsis said:

So, is this just another product of the US capitalists that is fighting for a place on the market as quickly as possible?

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This hasn't been approved or even mentioned to be done in the United States. This article is about it being approved and sold in Europe by mid-2013. It is a Dutch biotech company called uniQure. "The European Commission approved Glybera on October 25, making the drug for treating the extremely rare disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) the first to be approved for sale in Europe or North America."

Ellipsis said:

However, don't get me wrong, I'm all for gene therapy if it works properly, but what happens if it doesn't, or worst case scenario, goes wrong?

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There are definitely negatives to this. These are of course minimized though as it becomes more advanced and more progress is made.

"Setbacks included the tragic death of an 18-year-old U.S. volunteer, Jesse Gelsinger, in 1999, and the development of cancer among two French children treated for ‘bubble baby’ syndrome, a chronic lack of immune defences."

Deathcrow said:

This hasn't been approved or even mentioned to be done in the United States. This article is about it being approved and sold in Europe by mid-2013. It is a Dutch biotech company called uniQure. "The European Commission approved Glybera on October 25, making the drug for treating the extremely rare disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) the first to be approved for sale in Europe or North America."

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When I read "The first gene therapy to be approved in the West" I took "West" to mean the United States, my appologies.

I also took "Dutch biotech uniQure’s Glybera was approved for sale by the European Commission late last month", to mean that the gene therapy from biotech uniQure was approved by the European Commission, but was going on sale in the US, since it's natural for a large scale medicine such as this to have it's safety verified globally. However, when I read your comment again, don't you contradict yourself? Will it be going on sale in America?

Deathcrow said:

This hasn't been approved or even mentioned to be done in the United States.

Click to expand...

Deathcrow said:

It is a Dutch biotech company called uniQure. "The European Commission approved Glybera on October 25, making the drug for treating the extremely rare disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) the first to be approved for sale in Europe or North America."

Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm just trying to justify my reasoning.

Deathcrow said:

There are definitely negatives to this. These are of course minimized though as it becomes more advanced and more progress is made.

"Setbacks included the tragic death of an 18-year-old U.S. volunteer, Jesse Gelsinger, in 1999, and the development of cancer among two French children treated for ‘bubble baby’ syndrome, a chronic lack of immune defences."

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Cancer and a tragic death? I'd like to see the odds of getting a side effect to fully make a judgement. If these are just a few cases out of thousands of volunteers that since have reaped the benefits of gene therapy, then it gets my vote! :bashful_cute_2:

Ellipsis said:

Deathcrow said:

This hasn't been approved or even mentioned to be done in the United States.

Click to expand...

Deathcrow said:

It is a Dutch biotech company called uniQure. "The European Commission approved Glybera on October 25, making the drug for treating the extremely rare disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) the first to be approved for sale in Europe or North America."

Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm just trying to justify my reasoning.

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No worries, I understand completely what you mean and why you think this.

The first time I read that quote I thought the same thing you did. But what they are actually saying makes sense. Just reading it wrong.

They are saying this is the first to be approved in either of those places. It is only approved for Europe though.

EDIT:
Also, that "or" plays a big role in how they said that. =p

The below statement means that it is approved in both Europe and the United States.

The European Commission approved Glybera on October 25, making the drug for treating the extremely rare disorder lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) the first to be approved for sale in Europe and North America.