Who killed Jesse Gelsinger? Ethical issues in human gene therapy

Abstract

Gene therapy, while promising, is a relatively new field fraught with many benefits but even bigger pitfalls. Last year, Jesse Gelsinger became the first casualty in the race to discover a gene therapy cure. The death of Gelsinger was the result of several factors that came together at an inopportune time. His death highlighted the inadequacies in the regulation of gene therapy and shed light on several questionable decisions made by the doctors overseeing his case. There is no doubt that the Gelsinger case will affect how we pursue genetic therapy but the question is how?