The NIH disagrees, and plans a meeting next month to discuss the controversy. People had held it out like it was mythical, and there are dangers associated with it. That's to be expected. The biotech industry bristles at the implication that it conducts research differently from scientists who receive government funds. The implication is that public research is being done more openly, whereas the private sector is more secretive.
Much work is still experimental - with few resounding successes.
Repairing a defective gene is more difficult than researchers thought, and many have turned to a new method - attempting to insert a normal copy of the mutated gene to correct the problem. Nature Biotechnology's gene therapy conference was a reminder of how complex and arcane the field remains, and how much of the promise remains just a promise. For example, a treatment given monkeys to produce a specific muscular protein also sends their red blood cell count skyrocketing, so that they need to be bled a couple of times a week to drain the excess, Wilson said. The smaller the amount of vector used, the better, many think, but sometimes the gene therapy doesn't take except in large doses.