WHO Issues Framework For Governance For Gene Editing Technologies

• A World Health Organization expert advisory panel Monday issued two new reports recommending the implementation of global standards to prevent future unsafe or unethical uses of CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies.

• The panel was convened in December 2018 when a Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced two babies were born from embryos he edited.

• It follows a similar effort from the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing, which released a series of recommendations last year.

• Both panels have broadly condemned germline editing by editing embryos, sperm, or eggs, noting the technology is not sophisticated enough for researchers to make such edits safely and arguing that it should only be done even if it becomes possible to do so for serious disorders.

• In addition to the whistleblowing mechanism, the reports call to establish an international registry to track all gene-editing experiments and a way for whistleblowers to report concerns.

• Most recently, gene-editing player Intellia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: NTLA) gained headlines announced it was able to complete its first systemic delivery as a medicine to the human body for a rare disease.

• Price Action: NTLA shares are down 2.14% at $149.73, CRSP stock is -2.9% at $140.15, EDIT shares are -4.7% at $46.26, BEAM shares are down 2.2% at $98.75 during the market session on the last check Monday.

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