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Vical Leaves Gene Therapy for Vaccines

Is gene therapy ever going to become a routine, reliable method of disease treatment? It appears that the odds of success in anything like the near term are slimming. Now one of the first companies to get involved in gene therapy is finally giving up on it: San Diego-based Vical Inc., founded in 1987, recently announced its intention to use its naked DNA technology to develop a vaccine for cytomegalovirus (CMV).

Is gene therapy ever going to become a routine, reliable method of disease treatment? It appears that the odds of success in anything like the near term are slimming. In September 2002, a French boy seemingly cured of severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) by gene therapy was diagnosed with leukemia, apparently caused by the treatment. In January, another case was revealed. One of the researchers running the clinical trial says he suspects that the retrovirus used to transfer genes into cells may have inserted its own DNA into a dangerous gene and caused the cancer. The theoretical risk had always been recognized, but researchers pursued retroviral vectors anyway.

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