Deaf children can now hear thanks to a new treatment that repairs a defective gene. Researchers associated with the biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals unveiled the successful gene therapy last week. One patient, who was treated at 18 months old, Travis Smith, can now hear. Overall, 80 percent of participants (aged 10 months to 16), saw significant improvement in hearing, and 42 percent achieved normal hearing, including the ability to hear whispers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved the treatment.
Medical research on ameliorating physical and intellectual maladies continues apace. For example, researchers at Harvard Medical School reported earlier this month that they have made progress in silencing the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome using the genome editing technique CRISPR.
