Back in September [soylentnews.org], it was reported that spindle nuclear transfer was used to successfully transfer mitochondrial DNA into an egg in order to prevent a child from inheriting a mitochondrial disorder. The procedure was carried out in Mexico due to U.S. laws against it. Now, the FDA has warned the doctor behind this milestone to stop using the achievement in marketing materials for his fertility clinic [cnn.com]:
The US Food and Drug Administration has told a New York fertility doctor to stop marketing a controversial three-parent fertility treatment, which makes it possible for babies to be made from two women and a man.
The health watchdog published a letter [fda.gov] to Dr. John Zhang [newhopefertility.com], founder of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City, whose "spindle nuclear transfer" technique was used to conceive a boy born in Mexico in April 2016.
Zhang detailed the procedure in the journal Fertility and Sterility [fertstert.org] [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.08.004] [DX [doi.org]] last year and is now marketing the technique, but the letter reminds Zhang the FDA has not authorized his use of the procedure in humans.