Woman's Death Puts Focus On Gene Therapy

Saturday, September 15th 2007, 5:08 pm

By: News On 6

TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- A study intended to find out if repeat injections of an experimental gene therapy drug were safe in people suffering from inflammatory arthritis has been halted after the death of an Illinois woman.

Among the 127 patients participating in the study by Seattle-based Targeted Genetics Corporation were some recruited in Oklahoma City.

In the study, genetically engineered viruses were used as vehicles to carry an engineered gene into the body. This stage of the study was to determine safety. The overall goal is to determine whether the genes help the body make a protein that fights inflammation.

Thirty-six-year-old Jolee Mohr died in a Chicago hospital on July 24th, three weeks after her right knee was injected with trillions of genetically engineered viruses as part of the study.

Doctors don't know whether the injections played any role in the death but investigations are ongoing.