Boy's Cancer Prompts FDA to Halt Gene Therapy

The Food and Drug Administration has suspended several U.S. gene therapy experiments after learning that a third child who underwent treatment in France has developed cancer as a result, a development that has cast a pall over the struggling research field.
Adding to the gloom, researchers are due to report today that a monkey has died of cancer caused by a gene therapy experiment six years ago. That suggests the treatments may carry long-term as well as near-term risks, said scientists who will be discussing the issue at an FDA meeting.