Wasn't UPenn banned from receiving federal funding for gene therapy research after the whole Jesse Gelsinger controversy in the late 90s? How did they receive funding for this?
Also, 3 patients isn't statistically significant. Having this in the national media is going to cause mass confusion in the general public. There needs to be many more studies on this therapy before it's actually used as a treatment.
For this particular study the numbers are fantastic, but there is no indication that this therapy will actually cure any other CLL patients. Just last year the NCI estimated there would be 15,000 CLL new patients. A favorable result with just 3 patients isn't a big enough percentage to call this new treatment anything but experimental.
However, that wasn't my original point. This therapy is obviously at a very early stage. Headlines like this in the lay media are extremely misleading to the general public, because a majority of people will not take the time to read or understand the entirety of the article.
Also, 3 patients isn't statistically significant. Having this in the national media is going to cause mass confusion in the general public. There needs to be many more studies on this therapy before it's actually used as a treatment.