OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband Oliver Mulherin have backed a controversial startup investing in genetically engineering babies to eliminate hereditary diseases.
The company, called Preventive, has raised $30 million and established its headquarters in San Francisco to address “devastating genetic conditions.”
Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase, is also investing alongside Altman and Mulherin, according to The Times.
Gene editing to create a baby is illegal in the US, UK, and many countries around the world, with critics arguing it is unethical and unsafe.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Preventive was considering using the United Arab Emirates to conduct tests, as it is a country where embryo editing is legal.
Scientists from the company are said to be trying to create a child from an embryo that has been edited to prevent a hereditary disease, using a couple who have a genetic disease who are interested in taking part.
Armstrong backed investing in gene editing, arguing that it was necessary to eliminate preventable diseases.
“More than 300 million people globally live with genetic disease,” he said to The Times.
“Foundational research should be done to determine if safe and effective therapies can be developed to cure these diseases at birth. It is far easier to correct a smaller number of cells before disease progression occurs, such as in an embryo.”
In May of this year, gene-editing reached a groundbreaking milestone after a baby born with a rare, life-threatening genetic disorder received personalised gene-editing treatment.
KJ Muldoon of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, was diagnosed shortly after birth with severe CPS1 deficiency – the buildup of toxic ammonia in the blood.
The experimental therapy, crafted specifically for his condition, corrected a minor yet crucial error in his genetic code, offering hope for others with similarly rare diseases.
While liver transplants can be a solution for some, this innovative gene-editing treatment offers a new avenue of hope.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, details KJ's case and highlights the potential of this technology.
Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a University of Pennsylvania gene editing expert and study co-author, hailed the treatment as "the first step towards the use of gene editing therapies to treat a wide variety of rare genetic disorders for which there are currently no definitive medical treatments."
KJ's case represents a significant advancement in personalised medicine, demonstrating the potential to tailor treatments to individual genetic profiles.
However, some tech companies are further exploring ways the technology could be used, including allowing parents to see a child’s likely intelligence and height.
GM Freeze, an umbrella group of charities and other organisations seeking to highlight concerns of genetic modification, argued that not enough was known about the practice.
The group states on its website: “As genetic engineering technologies such as gene editing advance, so does the realisation that our knowledge of gene functioning is still very incomplete,” the group’s website states.
