A Maryland biotech company has taken an important next step in their HIV Clinical Trial that they hope will lead to long-term remission for participants. Rockville-based biotech company American Gene Technologies® has begun withdrawing clinical trial participants from their antiretroviral HIV medication to determine whether the gene therapy treatment works. All 7 participants have already shown safety and blood markers of efficacy, according to the press release. Full press release below:
The Gene Therapy Industry Is Poised for Enormous Growth
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Current gene and cell therapies are just the tip of a $5 trillion market. According to Goldman Sachs, the gene therapy industry could become 4X the size of the current pharmaceutical market.
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Gene therapy has successfully cured certain forms of blindness, and in 2019 the FDA approved a gene therapy treatment for pediatric spinal muscular atrophy.
What Would This Mean for the Future of Maryland’s Life Science Industry?
Montgomery County known as “DNA Valley”. You’ve heard of California’s Silicon Valley that got its name because of the silicon chips that were manufactured in the southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. American Gene CEO Jeff Galvin believes in the potential for Montgomery County and the greater region to become the global epicenter of gene therapy — or what he calls “DNA Valley”. The region is poised for biotech to excel and expand to become even bigger than the computer industry, especially considering that Maryland is home to thousands of life science firms and some of the country’s most prestigious research institutions like NIH, UMD, and Johns Hopkins.
A Potential HIV Cure Could Be Just the Beginning for Gene Therapy Advancement
American Gene Technologies is creating the foundation for a fundamentally new approach to medicine. Much like Apple’s iOS platform for the iPhone, the company is building a gene therapy platform, so other scientists can build on its approach to develop new cures (much like creating apps for the iPhone). This will significantly cut the time and costs of developing new drugs for a variety of diseases.