ADA-SCID Gene Therapy with a Money Back Guarantee
October 25, 2016 | Terry Sharrer
In the eight years that Tagline has scanned medical news stories, only twice have pieces shown up about procedures with money-back guarantees (the Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine, Las Vegas, NV; and the Geisinger Clinic in PA). But now GSK has a deal to top all. Glaxo Smith Klein’s gene therapy treatment for ADA-SCID, named “Strimvelis,” is based on a recombinant gammaretrovirus (a retrovirus family which includes the Maloney murine leukemia virus) that vectors the human gene for adenosine deaminase. The process is done ex vivo on purified CD34 hematopoietic cells. The cost of the treatment is about $665,000, and the company expects it to be curative in five out of six cases. If it doesn’t work, GSK will refund the cost. MORE
Image Credit: GSK