Chinese authorities fired two researchers and disciplined several others after an investigation found safety and ethical flaws in an experimental gene-editing study that led to the death of a child.
The two key researchers leading the study at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine also were barred for five years from government science and technology projects, state media China Central Television reported on Nov 13.
Several others received penalties, including removal from their posts, demotions and disciplinary warnings, according to the CCTV report that cited a Shanghai investigative task force.
Investigators found scientists failed to flag warning signals from a non-human-primate safety and didn’t disclose the child’s death in a research paper published in February, CCTV said.
No data fabrication was found, though other academic irregularities and undisclosed conflicts of interest were identified.
The hospital’s ethics committee approved the study despite insufficient toxicology and safety evidence, and the risk of death wasn’t highlighted in the informed consent disclosures.
Shanghai authorities said they will strengthen oversight of clinical research involving new biomedical technologies, including high-risk cell and gene therapies, according to the report.
The city’s health commission has drawn up a special inspection plan and begun inspections and rectification work, it added.
The child’s death, first reported in late July by Science and Retraction Watch, drew scrutiny of China’s booming…
