Jan 25, 2024
Breakthrough: Deaf Boy Can Hear After First Gene Treatment in US
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, genetics
His father’s voice, the sounds of passing cars and scissors clipping his hair: An 11-year-old boy is hearing for the first time in his life after receiving a breakthrough gene therapy.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) which carried out the treatment – a first in the United States – said in a statement Tuesday the milestone represents hope for patients around the world with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations.
Aissam Dam was born “profoundly deaf” because of a highly rare abnormality in a single gene.