This week, members of the HDSA team are attending the 2018 plenary meeting of the European Huntington’s Disease Network (EHDN) in Vienna, Austria. Alongside the latest findings from HD researchers worldwide, Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Roche/Genentech will continue to present the results from the successful safety trial of their huntingtin-lowering ASO. The HD research community is additionally expecting news during the conference about the ongoing HD clinical trials program.

HDSA is working with Roche/Genentech to share updates with the community as soon as they become available. Keep an eye out for announcements in the coming weeks. We will host an HDSA Research Webinar this month in which members of the Roche/Genentech team will present the latest trial update and answer your questions. Here are the details:

Title: Update on Huntington’s Program and Clinical Trials from Roche/Genentech

Date and Time: Wednesday, September 26th, 12 – 1 pm EDT

Presenters: Roche/Genentech HD Team Members

  • J.P. Sacksteder, Genentech Advocacy Relations
  • Mai-Lise Nguyen, Patient Partnership Director
  • Erik Lundgren, Lifecycle Leader
  • Scott Schobel, MD, Clinical Science Leader

Please register at this link to join us!  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UiKn-XLORiCEA408UPHm7g

 

Have CRISPR safety issues been overhyped?

Over the past several months many reports have indicated that CRISPR technology has some serious safety issues to overcome. However, the dangers may be overhyped, and scientists are hard at work exploring the potential uses of CRISPR and ways to make it even more safe and accurate at editing genes. An article this week shared by the Washington Post does a great job of outlining what we know about CRISPR safety and potential future applications.