Gene-editing therapies not yet ready for human trials, Stanford expert says

Gene-editing therapies not yet ready for Human trials, Stanford expert says3-MIN READ3-MIN0ListenPublished: 6:00pm, 14 Aug 2026Gene-editing therapies for the nervous system may need at least another round of studies before they are safe enough to enter Human trials, according to one of the world’s most influential figures in the commercialisation of Brain science.“The techniques are reasonably well established for animal experiments, but they really haven’t been as mature for human studies,” said Karoly Nikolich, an adjunct professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, in an exclusive interview with the China-morning-post" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12558" data-entity-type="organization">South China Morning Post. He added that it could be up to five years for human studies to get going.His comments came after a report that revealed details of the death of a six-year-old girl in an Investigator-initiated trial (IIT) after receiving an experimental gene-editing treatment at Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai. IITs in China typically do not require approval from the drug regulator.Select VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x