Two children died from gene therapies in China: where the field goes next Strengthened laws should help to ensure future deaths are quickly disclosed to the public, but China’s reputation for such research is at risk. By Rachel Fieldhouse

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02497-2?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=4875bf78c7-nature-briefing-daily-20260908&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164 Gene-therapy deaths put spotlight on trials The deaths of two children in separate gene-editing trials in China raise questions about oversight and could have a profound effect on the country’s biomedical industry, say researchers, ethicists and legal scholars. The two trials involved breaches of ethics and lacked transparency, and the deaths — one of which was only revealed after an investigation by Science and Retraction Watch — will probably prompt the introduction of stronger regulations for gene-therapy trials, researchers say. But a balance must be struck, says legal scholar Hank Greely. “We can’t make ethics so tight that no research can ever possibly be done,” he says. Both trials fast-tracked as investigator-initiated trials (IITs). These enable researchers in China to test therapies quickly without supervision from the country’s drug regulator, and are widely considered to be a driving force behind China’s rising competitiveness in biomedicine. News of the deaths comes only months after the government introduced stricter rules for IITs of new biomedical technologies, which mandate that only certain hospitals may host such trials and which grant regulatory agencies the power to suspend or terminate trials if there are technical or ethical concerns. China’s fast-track clinical trials are in the spotlight after child deaths A new government policy seeks to balance innovation and safety. By Xiaoying You https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02407-6?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=4875bf78c7-nature-briefing-daily-20260908&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164