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Nature 420, 595 (12 December 2002) | doi:10.1038/420595b

Safety panel backs principle of gene-therapy trials

Erika Check

Clinical trials of a gene therapy for a rare disorder of the immune system should be allowed to continue in the United States, according to the panel that advises the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the safety of gene transfer.Regulators in five countries halted such studies earlier this year, after a French boy being treated for severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) developed a leukaemia-like illness (see Nature 420, 116–118; 2002).