Cell & Gene Therapy Space Gears Up for First CRISPR Approval

Halloween brings to mind pumpkins and trick or treat, but for the 100,000 Americans suffering from sickle cell disease, this past October 31 had a different meaning when an FDA advisory panel deemed the first potentially curative SCD therapy safe enough for clinical use, bolstering hopes of an FDA approval in December. It would also be the first-ever approval for CRISPR, the genetic modification technique that won its discoverers the Nobel Prize in 2020 for their 2012 breakthrough.