Five new members have been appointed to the UK Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (GTAC), announced Yvette Cooper, the Minister for Public Health, last week. GTAC was formed in 1993, to oversee the ethical aspects of gene therapy clinical trials, and to advise the government on developments in gene therapy research. It has fifteen members, drawn from medical, scientific and lay backgrounds.
The new members are geneticist Professor Alex Markham of the University of Leeds, David Harrison, Professor of Pathology at Edinburgh, Dr Andrew Lever, reader in Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, Reverend Lee Rayfield and retired surgeon David Crosby.
Over 270 patients have taken part in gene therapy trials in the UK since 1992. Gene therapy researchers hope to develop treatments for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, immune deficiencies and various types of cancer.
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