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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

A Chinese group has become the first to inject a person with cells that contain genes edited using the revolutionary CRISPR–Cas9 technique. On 28 October, a team led by oncologist Lu You at Sichuan University [cd120.com] in Chengdu delivered the modified cells into a patient with aggressive lung cancer as part of a clinical trial [clinicaltrials.gov] at the West China Hospital, also in Chengdu.

Earlier clinical trials using cells edited with a different technique [nature.com] have excited clinicians. The introduction of CRISPR, which is simpler and more efficient than other techniques, will probably accelerate the race to get gene-edited cells into clinics [nature.com] across the world, says Carl June [upenn.edu], who specializes in immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and led one of the earlier studies.

"I think this is going to trigger ‘Sputnik 2.0’, a biomedical duel on progress between China and the United States, which is important since competition usually improves the end product,” he says.

http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-gene-editing-tested-in-a-person-for-the-first-time-1.20988 [nature.com]

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