Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize but not the intellectual property dispute and are now ready to give up two patents granted in Europe. The scoop once again comes from Antonio Regalado, who gained fame a few years ago for breaking the CRISPR babies scandal.
Continue readingThe tale of the experiment behind the birth of the first gene-edited humans has historical significance but continues to resemble an incomplete puzzle. I had hoped to find a few more hints and answers about the He Jiankui affair in the 2022 docufilm “Make people better” directed by Cody Sheehy, but now that I finally got to see it I must confess to a bit of disappointment. The impression is of being faced with a bricolage job executed with several valuable elements (never-before-seen footage and audio recordings) and too many random materials. It must be said that the task was difficult, for at least two reasons.
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In the story from the Bible King Solomon ruled between two women who both claimed to be the mother of a child. In the CRISPR saga the contention is between biotech companies over foundational patents, and the next crucial episode will unveil the consequences for the first CRISPR therapy, Casgevy.
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And so He Jiankui has been set free after three years in a Chinese prison. What will become of him? Antonio Regalado from MIT Technology Review is the journalist who made the CRISPR-baby scandal explode in 1998 and is probably the best-informed source right now. Regalado writes that “it’s unclear whether He has plans to return to scientific research in China or another country,” but expects that “he’ll find a place in China’s entrepreneurial biotech scene”. Maybe in a low-profile niche as cloner Woo-Suk Hwang did after falling into disgrace several years ago in South Korea?
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CRISPeR FRENZY 