Girl's Death in China Gene-Editing Trial Was Concealed, Investigation Finds
Investigators say researchers omitted the death and animal safety problems from a Nature paper, and the family paid more than $800,000 for the trial.
- In March 2025, six-year-old "Mei" died seven days after receiving an experimental gene-editing spinal infusion at Shanghai Xinhua Hospital, a fatality that an investigation by Science and Retraction Watch revealed was never publicly disclosed.
- The girl's parents contributed $860,000 to fund the therapy, a private arrangement that bypassed national regulatory review and allowed Xinhua Hospital to proceed without necessary oversight from China's drug regulator.
- Lead researcher Zilong Qiu omitted the death from a Nature paper published in early 2026 detailing preclinical animal studies, with the paper also excluding the family's $860,000 financial contributions and safety concerns.
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine established a special working group to investigate the incident, while local authorities previously fined Xinhua Hospital approximately $3,600 for failing to properly oversee the trial.
- Experts compare the tragedy to Jesse Gelsinger's 1999 gene therapy death, warning that pursuing high-risk experimental treatments for nonfatal conditions risks repeating past failures as China seeks to lead in biotechnology.
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Lluís Montoliu explained in esRadio that the clinical trials had not gone well and the parents were not informed about them.
The 6-year-old girl, with a non-lethal disease, had been treated with experimental gene therapy, reveals an investigation by the journal "Science".
The death was concealed from a scientific publication that presented favorable test results.
China: Six-Year-Old Girl Subjected to Brain Gene-Editing Therapy Dies After Being Injected with Viruses
Neuroscientist Qiu Zilong of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is under investigation following the death of a six-year-old girl who was receiving gene-editing therapy during a human trial under his supervision. The post China: Six-Year-Old Girl Subjected to Brain Gene-Editing Therapy Dies After Being Injected with Viruses appeared first on Breitbart.
Gene therapy: A six-year-old girl died in China from a runaway immune response. The hospital authorized the treatment, while it…
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