Another gene therapy, called Lyfgenia, which uses a different method to treat genes with the sickle cell disease, was also approved last week by the FDA.
In both treatments, patients must also undergo high-dose chemotherapy to allow the modified genetic cells to replace the diseased cells. According to reporting by NBC News, the use of chemotherapy as a part of the treatment for sickle cell disease can increase the risk of infertility.
According to the FDA, clinical trials for Casgevy involving adults and adolescents proved effective overall with some side effects such as low levels of platelets and white blood cells, mouth sores, and nausea.
Catholic bioethical analysis
The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), headquartered in Philadelphia, is a research organization focused on providing education and guidance from the Catholic perspective on today’s leading scientific and medical questions.
Founded in 1972, NCBC has long praised the potential of gene editing to cure serious diseases while also warning of the dangers of the technology being used to design or reengineer human persons in pursuit of eugenic goals.
Meaney said the newly FDA-approved gene treatments do not present any such moral qualms and that the primary ethical concern for these therapies is whether the benefits outweigh the costs.
In the Catholic understanding, Meaney explained, “the proportion of benefits and possible side effects” need to be examined in every therapy.
In the case of the new therapies, Meaney said they have already undergone extensive clinical trials but that they will need to continue to be studied with special attention to its long-term side effects.
“This therapy is still experimental in the sense that very few people have gone through it, and they’re still going to be studying this for many years in the future,” Meaney explained. “So, I would say that every therapy needs to be evaluated from that ethical perspective — is there a proportion between the benefits and the burdens and also between the costs?”
This type of treatment for sickle cell disease currently costs between $2 million to $3 million, though Meaney said the price will likely lessen as technology continues to advance.
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Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.