Published: May 03, 2021
By Brandon May
During a talk last month, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of biotech company BioVia said she was waiting for results from a six-person study performed in Mexico that saw patients with dementia receive a controversial gene therapy injection not yet authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If actually administered to these patients, this could represent the first recorded attempt to manage dementia that uses an injectable gene therapy technique.
Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of the Seattle-based startup BioVia, suggests the current drug safety regulatory system set up in the U.S. is a substantial barrier to potentially lifesaving and life-lengthening therapies. Her biotech includes an advisory board committee that boasts George Church, a Harvard geneticist.