Chinese university probes child death linked to gene-editing trial

BEIJING: A Chinese medical school has opened an investigation after reports said a six-year-old girl died following an experimental gene-editing treatment that was not disclosed in subsequent published research.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine said on Sunday it “attaches great importance to the matter and has set up a special working group to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident”. The school added that it “has always attached great importance to scientific research integrity and research norms, and firmly opposes conducting medical scientific research in violation of scientific research ethics,” and said “serious action” would follow in line with the inquiry’s findings.

The child, identified by the pseudonym Mei, died last year about a week after receiving a spinal infusion involving trillions of viruses intended to reach the brain. The treatment was aimed at correcting a rare genetic disorder that caused delayed cognitive development.

Neuroscientist Zilong Qiu, identified as the lead researcher, was seeking what was described as the world’s first gene-editing therapy targeting the brain by rewriting a mutated gene in the girl’s neurons so she could produce a vital protein. He later published a paper in the journal Nature on related animal studies that did not mention Mei.

Mei’s parents paid more than $800,000 to fund the experiment and were not adequately informed of the risks, according to the joint investigation that brought the case to light.

The episode is likely to intensify scrutiny of research ethics in China’s biotechnology sector, years after the 2018 scandal involving He Jiankui, the biophysicist who secretly created gene-edited babies.