Gene therapy can make a real impact on global health but we need equitable access, say experts

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Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can and should play a leading role in dictating the future of the world’s most advanced healthcare technologies, according to the World Economic Forum’s Accelerating Global Access to Gene Therapies: Case Studies from Low- and Middle-Income Countries white paper.

Gene therapy is at the forefront of modern medicine. By making precise changes to the human genome, these sophisticated technologies can potentially lead to one-time lifelong cures for infectious and non-communicable diseases (e.g. HIV, sickle cell disease) that affect tens of millions of people around the globe, most of whom live in LMICs. However, too often the benefits of advanced healthcare technologies remain restricted to high-income countries (HICs), a reality that could happen to gene therapies.

The narrative that new healthcare technologies are unsuitable for LMICs is a long-standing rationale for excluding a majority of the world from the benefits of modern medicine. Without concerted efforts to build gene therapy capacity in LMICs, the global health divide will continue to widen.

The gene therapy industry is in its infancy, but early clinical successes and substantial...