HuidaGene Goes Dark After Unimpressive Gene-Editing Results
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- HuidaGene presented data from one of the world's first CRISPR trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy at last year's American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy convention in New Orleans, though results from the first two patients were described as "not impressive" with no clear evidence the therapy worked.
- HuidaGene operated under a Chinese regulatory pathway that lets hospitals launch studies without central government regulator oversight — a contrast the source draws after similar U.S. trials stalled on technical challenges.
- HuidaGene issued no press releases for 15 months after the conference and in February quietly updated a clinical trial registry to mark the study as "complete" without disclosing outcomes for the remaining patients.
- CEO Alvin Luk and CTO TJ Cradick, a longtime U.S.-based gene-editing executive who had been with the Shanghai-based company less than a year, both departed last summer.
- After months of STAT questioning, HuidaGene issued a public update on Wednesday — its first substantive communication since the conference presentation.
Why it matters: The same hospital-level Chinese regulatory pathway that let HuidaGene launch without central government review also enabled 15 months of silence with no disclosed patient outcomes, while two top executives departed and the trial was quietly marked complete — a transparency gap the source directly contrasts with the stalled but heavily scrutinized U.S. CRISPR programs for Duchenne.
