THE 鈥渢hree-parent baby鈥� technique offered by a New York fertility clinic should no longer be marketed, says the US Food and Drug Administration.
Last year, 快猫短视频 revealed that John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center had used his own mitochondrial replacement technique to create an embryo from a couple鈥檚 egg and sperm, plus mitochondrial DNA from another woman. This meant the couple didn鈥檛 pass on a fatal genetic mitochondrial disorder to the resulting child.
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Because the FDA had denied Zhang鈥檚 application for a licence to perform this procedure in people, the embryo was created in the US, but implanted into the mother鈥檚 uterus in Mexico. Now Mary Malarkey of the FDA has , saying that 鈥渟uch human subject research cannot legally be performed in the United States鈥�.
The websites of Zhang鈥檚 clinic and his biotech company Darwin Life promote the procedure as 鈥渢he first proven treatment for certain genetic disorders鈥� and 鈥渁 cure for mitochondrial disease鈥�. But mitochondrial replacement therapies cannot be marketed without a valid licence, says the FDA.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥�3-parent warning鈥�
