Pathway to elective cosmetic gene therapies?

[Jarrad]

Hello,

I've been reading about gene therapies and noticing there is a lack of FDA approved gene therapies, granted most of the proposals put forward are solving some serious diseases,
but I was wondering if anyway has given much thought to a route to getting to commercialization with an elective cosmetic gene therapy?

If a gene therapy uses a non-replicating, safe vector, such as an engineered Adeno-Associated Virus, with the modification resulting in a low immune response in clinical trials.
What hurdles are left?

In Andrew Hessel's talks about cancer treatments, he eludes to the possibility of individualized therapies that could forego some, if not all the regulatory hurdles.
I can't quite see how this possible?

I understand this may be nuts to ask in a DIY context :)

[Nathan McCorkle]

On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 1:31 PM, Jarrad <m...@jarradhope.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been reading about gene therapies and noticing there is a lack of FDA
> approved gene therapies, granted most of the proposals put forward are
> solving some serious diseases,
> but I was wondering if anyway has given much thought to a route to getting
> to commercialization with an elective cosmetic gene therapy?

Think about the (larger anyway) markets outside the U.S. such as
India, China, and probably Thailand (they already are know for medical
tourism), and maybe South Korea.

>
> If a gene therapy uses a non-replicating, safe vector, such as an engineered
> Adeno-Associated Virus, with the modification resulting in a low immune
> response in clinical trials.
> What hurdles are left?

I think one of the problems is not being able to predict well the
dose-response between individuals.

> In Andrew Hessel's talks about cancer treatments, he eludes to the
> possibility of individualized therapies that could forego some, if not all
> the regulatory hurdles.
> I can't quite see how this possible?

It might have to do with each treatment being completely custom, so
much as one treatment would not work for anyone else. There would
probably be standards around the devices or synbio protocols.