FDA will now assess gene therapy experiments and products as it does with other treatments, drugs
THURSDAY, Aug. 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) — A U.S. National Institutes of Health oversight panel will no longer review all applications for gene therapy experiments, according to a perspective piece published online Aug. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Instead, the panel will assume an advisory role, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will assess gene therapy experiments and products as it does with other treatments and drugs.
When the NIH panel of independent experts was created, there were numerous safety concerns and scientific unknowns about gene therapy. But it is now an established field of medical care with no extraordinary risks, according to health officials. It’s time for the FDA to review gene therapy proposals on its own without duplication of regulatory oversight, according to NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., the authors of the perspective piece.
There are more than 700 proposals for gene therapy in the pipeline, and “it seems reasonable to envision a day when gene therapy will be a mainstay of treatment for many diseases,” Collins and Gottlieb write. “The tools we use to address other areas of science are now well suited to gene therapy.”
Gene Mutation Identified That Increases Lung Cancer Risk
Family History of CRC Increases CRC Risk Similarly in IBD, General Population
Genetics, Diabetes Tied to MASLD-Associated Cirrhosis Before Age 50
Relapse Rare After Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma Resection
Most Specialty Oral Anticancer Meds for Blood Cancers Are Initially Rejected by Insurers
Implant, Patient Survival Do Not Differ for Robotic and Conventional Total Joint Replacement
Personalized Support Boosts Families" Genetic Testing for Hereditary Cancers
Physical Therapist-Supervised Exercise Improves Outcomes After ACL Reconstruction