French Gene Therapy Trial Halted as Boy Sickens
Thu Oct 3, 2002  By Steve Pagani 

PARIS (Reuters) - French doctors have suspended ground-breaking gene therapy trials after a young boy undergoing the treatment developed a disease similar to leukemia, France's public health agency said on Thursday. 

"The trials at the clinic have been suspended as a precaution until investigations into the causes have been completed," the statement said. 

The news was a fresh blow for gene therapy, which aims to cure disease by replacing faulty genes. Gene therapy research had been recovering from the death of an 18-year-old man in the United States in 1999 who had volunteered for the treatment to try have a rare, inherited liver defect corrected. 

Authorities in Germany halted trials there this year after scientists found mice used in experiments had developed leukemia-like symptoms. 

OTHER CHILDREN IN GOOD HEALTH 

A total of eight children had been undergoing gene therapy treatment at the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris.

"As soon as the complication was discovered, the families of the other children undergoing such treatment and the scientific community were informed," the public health body said in its statement. "The other children are in good health." 

Asked whether the illness could be linked to the gene therapy treatment, a spokeswoman at the agency told Reuters: "At the moment, we do not know. We are in the process of investigating it." 

The eight children have human severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) X1, which leaves them without any working immune system. 

Patients usually live out their short lives in sterile "bubbles" because any infection would kill them. 

Early trials did not cure anyone, but sometimes helped to deal with certain rare genetic conditions and had not been found to harm patients. 

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