Page 17 - Christiana Care Focus August 2018

the science,” said speaker Bob Oakes, Esq., a patent attorney with intellectual property law firm Fish & Richardson.
According to Oakes, there are more than 1,880 families of CRISPR patent applications, and more than 100 new families are published each month. Patents inspire innovation with the promise of a limited monopoly, he said.
Gene editing treatments might make money for a patent-holder and licensor, but they could be costly to a patient. “Insurance
and how it’s structured has not really kept up with science,”
said Edmund Pezalla, M.D., MPH, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Wethersfield, Connecticut-based Enlightenment Bioconsult, which incorporates payer requirements into development programs,
| Cancer Care
Speakers at the CRISPR 360 Gene Editing Symposium. From left: Bob Oakes, Esq., patent attorney with Fish & Richardson; Mark Greene, Ph.D., research director at the Center for Science, Ethics & Public Policy at the University of Delaware; Debra J. H. Mathews, Ph.D., MA, assistant director for science programs for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Edmund Pezalla, M.D., MPH, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Enlightenment Bioconsult; Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., Director of the Gene Editing Institute of Christiana Care’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute; and Helen Stimson, president and CEO of the Delaware BioScience Association
The conversation can’t wait. If patients can’t find a CRISPR procedure in their home country, they are bound to travel to one that offers it, she said.
The event also included a panel discussion led by moderator Mark Greene, Ph.D., research director at the Center for Science, Ethics & Public Policy at the University of Delaware.
“technology assessment plans and value frameworks.
rent medicine,” she said after the event.
CRISPR is arguably the hottest
life-science technology, and it’s
moving very quickly.” Helen Stimson
“Considering the myriad scientific, legal, regulatory, ethical and societal considerations that must be addressed at this nascent stage of therapeutic gene editing, the discussions at the CRISPR sympo- sium were very timely and fostered a dialog among key stakeholders, including scientists, bioethicists, regulators, payers and — most importantly — health care providers, patients and the public.”
“We have a lot more important treatments for rare diseases that are very expensive,” he said. “We haven’t made provisions for how that can be taken care of and paid for without there being a large expense to the patients. We’re not sure we really understand how to move that across the pool of people or perhaps even across a pool of people over time.”
CRISPR also presents ethical concerns, which were addressed by Debra J. H. Mathews, Ph.D., MA, assistant director for science programs for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and associate professor in the department of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Countries and cultures have different beliefs when it comes to defining human life and when it begins. “It’s going to be up to individual countries — or in the case of the U.S., individual states — to make decisions about the use of the technology and if it is aligned with how we think of ourselves as human,” she said.
Melanie Mundell, a high school biotechnology teacher at Newark Charter School, attended the event with five of her students. “The CRISPR symposium was brilliant,” said Mundell, the 2016 Delaware Bio Educator of the Year. “All the speakers brought their different perspectives and considerations to the table — from describing the biology and its applications to the complications with the ethical, legal and insurance concerns that arise from this revolutionary technology.” 
About 160 people attended the symposium, including Irene Rombel, Ph.D., MBA, senior director of strategy, innovation and partnering for Janssen Research & Development.
“Gene editing has the potential to have a transforma- tive impact on human health, including treating diseases that are currently intractable with cur-
Click here to see video interviews from the CRISPR 360 event
FOCUS • AUGUST 2018 15