First-in-the-world Israeli gene therapy delivers missing gene directly to infant's brain

In an historic medical breakthrough, doctors in Israel's Clalit Health Services -Schneider Children's Medical Center, became the first in the world to treat a baby born with a fatal genetic brain disorder by injecting a healthy gene directly into his brain, in a pioneering effort that united an Israeli physician, an Arab scientist and the Israeli-born CEO of an American biotech company in a race to save the life of an eight-month-old ultra-Orthodox infant.

The treatment was performed at Clalit-Schneider Children's Medical Center, part of Clalit Health Services, Israel's largest health organiza...