Can Electroporation Revive Gene Therapy?

As regulators increase their scrutiny of viral vectors for gene therapy and set the bars for safety ever higher, some industry observers have begun questioning whether gene therapy will ever become a commercial reality. Recently, even Vical Inc. , one of the first companies to enter the area back in 1987, abandoned ship—turning instead to vaccine development. (See "Vical Leaves Gene Therapy for Vaccines," IN VIVO, February 2003 Also see "Vical Leaves Gene Therapy for Vaccines" - In Vivo, 1 February, 2003..)

The difficulties in the field may turn out to be a life-saver for MaxCyte Inc. (formerly TheraMed Inc.). Its managers think their flow electroporation technology could be a platform for transforming patients' cells and getting them to produce a desired protein—without viruses, and the risks they bring. The approach could also obviate a long-standing worry that genetic material introduced by vectors might somehow infiltrate chromosomes