The First Crispr Therapy Is Just the Start of the Gene-Editing Revolution
One day, the technology could allow us to simply edit disease out of the body.
Photographer: Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
Editing DNA with the same ease as spell-checking a Word document is a scientific holy grail. It would allow debilitating and deadly genetic diseases to not only be treated, but cured. The US Food and Drug Administration’s approval on Friday of the first treatment using the Nobel-prize-winning technology Crispr is a medical milestone that puts that dream one giant step closer to reality.
Two companies, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG, are now cleared to sell the cutting-edge gene-editing treatment to potentially cure sickle cell disease. But Crispr’s real potential — fixing problematic genetic code inside of the body instead of in a lab — is still in the future.