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38 Biotechnology L. Rep. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/bothnl38 and id is 1 raw text is: Selected Developments in Biotechnology
Law and the Biotechnology Industry
By STEVEN J. ZWEIG

CRISPR IN LITERATURE AND THE NEWS
R OBIN COOK, physician and best-selling medical/
science thriller novelist (his books include Coma,
Outbreak, Vital Signs, and Invasion, some of which
have been made into movies), has given CRISPR a
starring role in his latest (December 2018) novel,
Pandemic. According to descriptions of the book's
plot, a seemingly healthy young woman collapses
suddenly and dies on the New York City subway.
An NYC medical examiner finds that she has had a
heart transplant-and that the DNA of the trans-
planted heart and her own DNA match due to use
of CRISPR gene editing technology. From there, we
go into a world of black-market transplants.
Sensational plot line? Maybe. But no more sensa-
tional than a recent story in the news involving
CRISPR. In November 2018, Chinese scientist He
Jiankuoi (Southern University of Science and Tech-
nology in Shenzen, China) announced the birth of
twin girls who were the result of gene editing done
on embryos created though in vitro fertilization of
sperm and eggs from a couple where he was HIV
positive and she was not. The goal of the gene editing
(accomplished using CRISPR) was to confer HIV re-
sistance on the resulting children. That, with seem-
ingly no ethical oversight or consideration, an
essentially unmonitored human trial involving alter-
ing human DNA in unborn children was conducted,
unleashed a firestorm of debate and condemnation.
Compared to experiments on embryos, who can't
consent to what is done to them, altering the DNA of
a transplanted organ being implanted in an adult pa-
tient seems practically unexceptional. Maybe Robin
Cook's plotline isn't bold enough.
Steven J. Zweig is the Managing Editor of Biotechnology
Law Report.

2018 WAS NOT KIND TO BIOPHARM
STOCK-BUT NOT REALLY WORSE
THAN IT WAS FOR STOCKS GENERALLY
Three key exchange-traded funds or ETFs based
on biopharmaceutical equities finished up lower at
end 2018 than end 2017. The iShares Nasdaq Bio-
technology ETF lost 12% from 2017; the Invesco
Dynamic Phamaceuticals ETF lost 6%; and the
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotech ETF dropped 3%.
Using these three benchmark ETFs as a proxy for
biopharma performance generally, it appears that
sector dropped around 7% or so on average. While
that's hardly anything to cheer about, it's only frac-
tionally worse than the broader market's perfor-
mance, which fell around 6.5% (using the Dow
Jones average for comparison) over the course of
the year. So, while nothing about biopharma insu-
lated it from the market forces hitting equities gener-
ally, there also did not seem to be anything about the
sector to make it much more vulnerable than the mar-
ket generally is to political uncertainty, a trade war
with China, and an end-year government shutdown.
CELGENE IN THE NEWS: INVESTING
IN BIOTECH AND BEING ACQUIRED
BY BRISTOL-MYERS
Celgene Corp. is increasing its investment in a
start-up using biotechnology to try and fight cancer:
it is investing an additional $30 million in NantCell, a
privately owned biotech company which is develop-
ing cancer treatments using the patient's own im-
mune system. Launched in 2015 by biotechnology
entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and partly
funded by an initial $75 million Celgene investment,
NantCell is attempting to develop a cancer vaccine
effective against multiple types of tumors. Celgene's
latest investment increases its investment to $105

1

38 Biotechnology Law Report 1
Number 1, 2019
© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/bir.2019.29105.sz

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