Tech boss could become godfather to genetically engineered babies | News Technology

The birth of a genetically engineered baby is fast approaching, with a Silicon Valley startup as its mother and a group of tech billionaires as its godparents.

The startup company is Preventive, a public benefit corporation, which seeks to eradicate hereditary diseases by editing human embryos before birth.

Gene-editing scientist Lucas Harrington founded the company, which is headquartered in San Francisco, earlier this year, and has raised $30 million.

Preventive says its mission is to prove that the technology can be made safe and transparent before any attempt to create a baby is made.

Harrington posted on X when the company was announced, stating: ‘We believe that if proven safe, this could be one of the most important health technologies in our lives.’

He continued: ‘Embryo editing has tremendous potential benefits, including precision, efficiency and cost, but intervention at this difficult stage of development presents enormous responsibilities that must be addressed through rigorous research and regulatory oversight.

Unfortunately, the combination of limited expert engagement and a lack of clear regulatory pathways creates the conditions for fringe groups to take dangerous shortcuts that can harm patients and hinder responsible investigations.

‘Our goal is clear: to determine through rigorous preclinical research whether preventive gene editing can be safely developed to save families from severe disease.

“If our research shows that this cannot be done safely, that conclusion is equally valuable.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong were among the company’s early investors.

Armstrong posted on X to share his excitement about supporting startup companies. He wrote: ‘More than 300 million people worldwide live with genetic diseases.

‘Fundamental research must be conducted to determine whether safe and effective therapies can be developed to cure these diseases at birth.

‘It is much easier to repair a small number of cells before disease development occurs, such as in embryos.’

These efforts and ideas are similar to those of Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who created the world’s first gene-edited babies – twins whose embryos had been altered to resist HIV.

He served three years in prison for illegal medical practices and, after his release, decided to focus on treating genetic diseases.

Following this incident, several American researchers called for a global suspension of all clinical use of germline editing.

In 2019, US senators introduced a joint solution, pushing for international standards for germline gene editing to ‘prevent unethical researchers from moving to any country with the loosest regulations.’

Contact our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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