MPs to vote ‘soon’ on new gene therapy – pioneered by Newcastle University team

MPs will vote soon on a new gene therapy to stop incurable diseases passing to babies ending fears the Government is ducking the controversy.

The health minister threw her weight behind a DNA-altering procedure pioneered by a team at Newcastle University, saying: This is something I want to take forward.

Jane Ellison told a parliamentary inquiry: I am now actively seeking cross-Government approval for parliamentary time in this session to bring regulations before the House.

Im extremely conscious that there are real families waiting on progress on this work. We need to keep up the momentum.

The comments are a huge boost to the Newcastle team, which has called for legislation as soon as possible, because of the number of patients waiting for treatment.

Also appearing before the Commons science select committee, the teams Professor Doug Turnbull said the worst-affected babies died within 24 or 48 hours.

He said most diseases develop in childhood, or adolescence, adding: We can do a lot to help with epilepsy and diabetes, but there is no cure.

And, on the gene therapy, This sort of approach to try to present a transmission of these sorts of diseases - would be really important.

The treatment involves replacing faulty mitochondria responsible for inherited diseases, including muscle wasting, heart problems, vision loss, organ failure and epilepsy.

Embryos are given healthy DNA from donor eggs, meaning a baby has the DNA of three people from two parents, plus less than one per cent from the donor.

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MPs to vote 'soon' on new gene therapy - pioneered by Newcastle University team