Posted on: 15 January 2003, source: New Scientist
Nearly 30 US gene therapy trials were halted on Tuesday following the announcement that a second child in a pioneering French gene therapy trial has developed leukaemia following the treatment. The French trial is testing a treatment for "bubble boy" disease, or X-SCID (X-chromosome-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). The initial results of the trial were hailed one of the first great successes for gene therapy. But the trial was halted in October 2002 following the first diagnosis of leukaemia in one of the boys. Three similar US gene therapy trials were suspended at the same time. A similar trial in the UK was not halted, as British doctors argued that without the treatment many of patients would certainly die.