Institutes Health

House committee seeks records after two agency scientists were charged over undeclared samplesThe US House committee on energy and commerce is “examining concerns” about the National Institutes of Health after two NIH scientists were charged with allegedly smuggling mpox into the United States and misleading investigators.Federal law enforcement alleges that Dr Vincent Munster, 53, a Dutch national and chief of the virus ecology section at the NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Montana, and Claude Kwe, 38, a research fellow from Cameroon, transported vials containing monkeypox, now known as mpox, into the country without declaring them to customs and then “lying about it”. Continue reading...

• The FDA granted accelerated approval to a CRISPR-based gene therapy for severe sickle cell disease on April 20, marking the first approved genetic treatment editing patient blood cells to produce functional hemoglobin. • Clinical trials demonstrated 95% of treated patients experienced elimination or near-elimination of vaso-occlusive crises within 12 months, with durable responses observed for over two years post-treatment. • The therapy addresses a disease affecting approximately 100,000 Americans, primarily of African descent, offering potential cure for patients previously reliant on pain management and blood transfusions.