BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Gene therapy's coming of age

Why gene therapy is hot after more than 20 years of research

July 23, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

After more than 20 years of trial and error in gene therapy, the field is taking off with one product approved in Europe, several poised to enter the market in the U.S., a surge of newcos, and investments of almost $6 billion in the last 18 months. While most experts polled by BioCentury agree that advances in vector technology have laid the groundwork for the recent ramp-up in activity, some say the real catalyst has been the explosion of interest in orthogonal technologies such as CAR T cells and gene editing.

"This is truly a moment in time for gene therapy. It has been a long journey in industry and academia to get to this point," said Annalisa Jenkins, CEO of Dimension Therapeutics Inc...